Time Intertwined- revised
by Bendyfish
Summary: The revised, longer story with more twists and with the correct spelling in the title. A man plots to get hold of the rift manipulator to turn back time as he wants to prevent a murder in the past.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Time Intertwined

Author: Bendyfish

_A/N 1: 'Time Intertwined' was my first multi-chapter story that I wrote on fanfiction, I was so excited to get it posted, I just ended it when it could have written so much more to it. Actually some reviews even said that that it ended abruptly so after writing a few stories after 'Time Intertwined' I have thought to re-visit this story and add more to it. So if you haven't read 'Time Intertwined' here it is again but longer and hopefully better. Oh and by the way I have fixed the spelling error in the title (like I said I was very excited about posting my first multi chapter story and I didn't really check over it properly, I am very embarrassed) so here is the sequel of sorts or the continuation of this story. Oh and I added some improvements to the original story mainly grammar and clearer understanding of who is talking and setting the scene. In some instances I have combined chapters of the original story mainly the prologue and chapter 1 together and chapters 3 & 4 and chapters 5 & 6._

_Author's Note – the prologue is setting the scene, it has no TW characters but you need to understand this part of the story to understand why TW becomes a part of the story. Bare with me readers, there will be plenty of TW in later chapters._

_Oh and Tosh and Owen are still alive, I refuse to acknowledge that Owen, Tosh or Ianto die, ever, they get hurt, threaten and harmed but their deaths are much much later in the Torchwood history according to me. They still continue to be a part of the awesome Torchwood team, separate from the government, outside the police, beyond the United Nations, the 21__st__ century is when it all changes and they are ready, as the world needs them. This story is set after Series 2 Ep1 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang'_

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters I just borrow their characterisations for my story telling.

Prologue - 1975

With the many branches scratching her bare arms, the girl, panting heavily quickly looks behind and over her shoulder while running through the bush track. She is getting tired but the fear in her is what is keeping her going. "Keep going, keep going" she repeats as a mantra in her head.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"Come on Dad, I'll race you to the next bend" Marcus laughingly said to his dad knowing that his dad couldn't resist a challenge. Marcus stood high on his bike, peddling his legs and took off with his dad not too close behind, as they laughed and urged each other to get to the bend, a pretty girl in joggers, a tight pink T-shirt and black running shorts was running towards them so Marcus and his dad slowed down as the track was wide enough for them to race side by side but not enough room for the jogger as well. As she approached she held her hands up and waved them about. Marcus and his dad slowed down but they didn't stop completely. The girl pleaded with them to stop, saying something about a man who was chasing her with a knife, she told them to turn around and stay with her. Marcus's dad looks down the track which is now straight and couldn't see anyone, let alone anyone chasing this girl with a knife. Marcus's dad says sorry but they need to move on and that there is no one down the track and says that if she wants she can come in the direction they are going. The girl was about to go with the two cyclists but she knows the man with the knife is in that direction, and says no and that they shouldn't go that way, there's a deranged man with a knife. Marcus and his dad ride off, not really believing her.

Marcus and his dad continue on their way, never seeing the 'deranged man with the knife'.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

After another 20 minutes of cycling Marcus and his dad decide to turn back to return home, all thoughts of the girl gone as they were both so involved in spending time with each other and they loved these days of father and son bonding. As they approached the bend where they saw the girl Marcus notices a lone jogger shoe in the path, Marcus slows down and sees the bare leg sticking out of the bush beyond the track. Marcus calls out to his dad, they stop, get off their bikes and slowly push back the branches of the low lying tree to see the girl that told them to help her; her open eyes staring up to the sky, her throat slit, her hands cut as if she tried to defend herself and her pink tshirt was now stained with blood and with knife cuts. Marcus's dad said to Marcus she's dead, we need to call the police, lets get home now so we can call, Marcus's dad made a mental note where she was as he knew this track well.

Once they arrived home they rang the police and reported it. The police came out, Marcus's dad showed them where the dead girl was, but when the police went to the area that Marcus's dad said it would be but there was no body, no evidence, no blood, no nothing to say that there even was a girl at all. The police checked the surrounding area and assured Marcus's dad that he couldn't have seen that girl as there was absolutely no evidence that there was a dead girl or assault anywhere in the general area that Marcus indicated. After a thorough search most of the police just didn't believe him, thinking that the sun and exercise may have affected him.

XxxxxxxxX

Life goes on and the memory of the girl fades.

Chapter 1

35 years later -2010

"Rift alert" Tosh calls out over the comms "in the Radyr Woods bush lands, 10 miles from Cardiff"

"You're with me Ianto, lets check it out" Jack said looking towards the handsome Welsh man.

Ianto grabs Jack's coat and holds it out for Jack, Jack slips his arms through and Ianto brushes the shoulders of Jack's great coat and smiles admirably, this ritual practised so many times that it is fluid in motion and not even noticed by the others anymore.

XXXXXXXXXX

Steering through country roads dodging the occasional rabbit that raced across the road, Jack and Ianto sped to the rift site as they debated who could retrieve details faster.

"No, I beg to differ, I know where everything, and I mean everything is, don't forget that it was I who fixed up the.…..whatever it was before me, I know every entry in the archives" Ianto said mockingly.

"Ahhh my dear Ianto, you forget I lived everything that is in the archives" Jack said humoursly.

"Yeah you may have lived it but remembering it, is two different things Jack" Ianto said smiling at his lover.

"Mmmm some things are easier to remember than others" Jack said his hand reaching out to caress Ianto's thigh. Ianto looked down at Jack's hand then looked up at Jack and sighed, he hoped after he dies that he is one of the people that Jack would remember after centuries of living. It was not easy to live with someone who had lived for many hundreds of years but the hardest part was knowing that Jack would take other lovers after him and he hoped, would like to think that he is/was memorable. Ianto reached out and caressed Jack's neck.

"Oh guys, the rift just disappeared, there's nothing there…" Tosh called out in their blue tooth devices.

"Okay, no wor….." Jack said

"no residule, how can that be? It wasn't the usual 10 minute flare but the spike was large, I'm sorry….there's nothing"

"It's o…"

"Let me look again, the readings are strange, nothing for you to worry about…" Tosh continued.

"Tosh, Tosh" Jack tried to interrupt, "We…"

"No, there's something, no gone again"

"It's okay, we'll check it out anyway" Jack laughed, grinned at Ianto, they both were thinking that Tosh, their friend could ramble for hours and loved the technical side of things, she thought they were all so fascinating, that any reading was strange to her; everything was worth investigating. "It's fine Tosh, we are going to check it out anyway"

"Thanks Tosh" Ianto said laughing, quietly with Jacked. They continued on their way to Radyr Woods.

Reaching the rift site, Jack and Ianto investigated where the rift coordinates were but could see nothing out of the ordinary after searching for a good half day as well as enjoying the sunshine, something they haven't had a chance to do in quite some time. On the way home Jack suggested that they rest up before heading back to the Hub. As they lazed in the grassy park sharing an apple, Ianto's head resting in Jack's lap they chatted about their upcoming holiday to Venice passing the apple between them.

On their return drive back as they left the Radyr Woods, they noticed some police cars parked near an entry point to the local bush track and slowed their speed down, no need to annoy the police if there was no reason to, the police didn't really care for them at the best of times. And anyway Jack didn't want this perfect afternoon spoilt with him having to explain to the local police that they are Torchwood and they were outside of the police, it always got their backs up, Jack chuckled, the rift spike showed nothing strange so the local police activity had nothing to do with them so they continued on.

"Hey Ianto, what say we send the guys home early tonight, I'm thinking we try some Italian tonight in readiness of our holiday" Jack says with a twinkle in his eye, as Ianto was checking the residual rift reading in the area, even though they found nothing he still wanted to be sure mainly to rest assure the ever efficient Tosh.

"Why send the others home? That little Italian place near the Hub does a great group deal." Ianto said confused.

"Not what I was thinking." Jack said smirking, looking at Ianto out of the corner of his eye.

"Oh and what were you thinking?" Ianto answered suspiciously, although with Jack anything is possible, but he couldn't for the life of him think what Jack was thinking, what could Italian food have to do with sex.

"Oh that's for me to know and you to find out" Jack smirked.

Ianto rolled his eyes but his curiosity was peaked, and he smiled despite his apprehension. Life and sex with Jack was always interesting, never boring.

"I'll give them a call" Ianto said smiling

Jack chuckled and Ianto wondered what he was in for tonight, Jack and Italian food, could be an interesting night.

XXXXXXXXXX

Marcus moved back into his childhood family home when his parents had died in a road accident bringing his wife and family, they lived there, he and his wife raising their children in the healthy country air before his children moved into the city to attend university and make their own careers. Life was had its usual ups and down for Marcus, his wife passing away from cancer after the last of the children entered university, a girl, who was the apple of her father's eye. She would visit many times throughout the year and each time they would cycle the bush track just like Marcus used to do with his dad. Marcus enjoyed these times with his daughter as his sons were travelling.

Marcus was resting in front of the TV watching the news when the screen showed a scene of the bush track that he is very familiar with. It was reporting that there was a girl found killed near this bush track, her throat was slashed and stabbed multiple times and had lots of defensive wounds to her hands. Marcus has flashes of the girl that he and his dad saw so many years ago that they encountered on that same bush track but there was no girl when they tried to show the police, it was weird, they couldn't convince the police that what they saw was real, not imagined but since there was no girl, no signs of a murder, no reports of a girl missing, it was dismissed by the police and Marcus and his dad forgot about it as time moved on, until now. As he tried to shake these visions from his head, the doorbell rang. Marcus opened the door to the police.

_A/N: I know you are probably wondering what does this 'Marcus' have to do with Torchwood, well read on, my dear reader, all will be revealed soon enough. _


	2. Chapter 2

Time Entertwined

Chapter 2

"Yes may I help you?" Marcus asked politely.

"Mr Edwards?" the police man inquired.

"Yes?" Marcus answered, "have I done anything wrong officer?"

"You have a daughter, aged approximately 19 years of age?"

"Yes, what this about?" Marcus getting worried.

"Sorry sir, but we believe that your daughter was found in the bush. We need you to identify her body" the policeman said apologetically.

Police inform Marcus that they believe that his daughter was found killed in the bush near his house. And could he please accompany them to the morgue to identify the body. In a daze Marcus follows them to the morgue and is led into one of the viewing rooms, the body of the jogger is on the slab. The morgue attendant pulls back the white sheet to reveal Marcus's daughter, the apple of his eye, his little girl that who would visit all the time as she missed her father whilst at uni, his little girl that could always make him smile when he felt sad about the loss of his wife.

Marcus howled, crying out "Why, why ,why" and "No, no, no"

XXXXXXXXX

9am in the Hub and all are in, caffeine still coursing through their veins from the morning dose of 'Ianto brew', as they go about their business. Jack's mind wanders, after all signing reports is the most boring part of his job, thoughts of Ianto keep on interrupting his reading, thinking of Ianto and him in Venice, yes, that is the most romantic place, the ideal place to propose to Ianto, his hand instinctively went to his pocket, the ring that he picked up the other day in readiness of his proposal to Ianto in Venice, oh yes, it's the most romantic place and with the love of his life, it's the perfect place to 'pop' the question. He thought of all the ways he would do this, on a gondola, on the bridge of sighs, at the finest authentic Italian restaurant, so many places in romantic Italy. Jack just hoped that he didn't chicken out, there was always that possibility, his nerves were getting the best of him lately. Thinking of nerves Jack observed that Owen seemed nervous, not his usual self-assured arse and he is kept on looking up to where the girls were working, he hoped that Owen wasn't picking up with Gwen again.

"Meeting in 10 minutes guys" Jack calls out over the comms, figuring they were all needing another caffeine fix and for Jack a 'fix' of seeing Ianto, it had been two hours since he last saw him after all, he was having withdrawal symptoms, _oh you've got it bad Jack_, Jack thought to himself.

XXXXXXXXX

Several days later after the police shown him his murdered daughter, Marcus found out from the police that two cyclists, a father and son found his daughter in the bush and it was also revealed that they saw her about 20 – 30 minutes before finding her dead body as she was telling them about a man who was after her with a knife and begged them to go with her in the other direction. Marcus got a chill listening to this, not only because it was his daughter but that the details were so similar….exactly the same!… to what occurred to him and his dad.

Marcus asked what was his daughter wearing, recalling that the girl that he and his dad saw so many years ago, was wearing a tight pink t-shirt and black running shorts. The police sergeant said a pink t-shirt and black running shorts. No it couldn't be, how is this possible? Marcus thought, his mind racing, this can't be happening.

"NO, this is not possible" Marcus screamed, "No, No, No, this is wrong, all wrong, how could this be right, she couldn't be wearing those clothes" Marcus became hysterical.

The police sergeant looked at Marcus quizzically, why would he be so concerned about what his daughter was wearing. The sergeant called for a medic, but Marcus, screamed "No…. no, let me explain!"

Marcus tried to calm down so he could explain. Marcus explained to Sergeant Craig what had occurred to him and his dad so many years ago and how there was no body found by the police when they lead them there, so it was dismissed as there was no body. The police constable Craig inquiringly shook his head and said that he didn't understand. Marcus shouted that this happened 35 years ago, with a girl about his daughter's age wearing a pink t-shirt and black running shorts.

XXXXXXXXX

Jack sat in his office looking down at his team with a smile on his handsome face, watching Gwen, Tosh, Owen and Ianto go about their work. Gwen was looking through police reports of some reported muggings in Cardiff, thinking that they were alien related; Owen was cutting into a body of their latest alien, the recorder capturing his words to be referenced later; Tosh was on her back under a computer improving some electronic gadget or other; and Ianto, his lovely Ianto was sitting at his computer logging in the latest artefact that the rift spat out. Jack's smile grew when he saw Ianto stop and stretch, his shoulders scrunch up, his arms flung out and raised up high, his head pulled back in a familiar way that reminded Jack so much of when Ianto would be so close to the peak of his arousal and his head would fall back and he would scream Jack's name. Jack shook his head, now is not the time or the place, Jack admonished himself; the team knew of his and Ianto's relationship but whilst at work they were professional, keeping that side for when they were alone at home. Home being a lovely apartment they bought together to represent their bond together and commitment to each other. Jack remembers the day fondly when they went out to buy furniture together, he was the happiest he had been in a long time, what with all that Torchwood thrust upon them and heart ache they had endured over the past few years they both agreed they need some normality. So going shopping for furniture and buying groceries was an activity that they did rarely but enjoyed thoroughly, besides their love making which never got boring, never with Ianto, Jack thought lovingly. Jack shook his head again, '_enough! real work to do'_ thought Jack.

The phone rang, Jack sighed and picked it up "Yes, hello" he said.

"Captain Harkness? Police Sergeant Craig here" the person on the other side of the phone said.

"Yes, do I know you?" Jack asked.

"No, but I've heard about your organisation and I think I may have something of interest to you" Sergeant Craig said.

"Oh, yes?" Jack asked quizzically.

Sergeant Craig explained about the girl found murdered in the bush, and about her father and what he said about seeing the _same_ girl 35 years ago, and how that girl disappeared, and how the father of the more recent murdered girl seemed sure it was the same girl.

"Send me the details and I'll look into it" Jack said, giving the sergeant his email, an email set up just for the police, wouldn't do to have the police having their real email details.

XXXXXXXXXX

Marcus sat at home in his black suit, his tear stained face showing the strain of the last couple of days. Marcus thought about all the things he said to police sergeant Craig and how at first he seemed interested then he dismissed it like the police dismissed it 35 years ago, why didn't anyone believe him he thought frustrated. As much as he didn't want to believe it himself he is sure that 35 years ago the girl that he and his dad saw that day was his daughter that wasn't even born at that time. But how could that be possible, he raked his brain, what would cause that to happen, police Sergeant Craig said something about an organisation 'Torch..' something or other but then he didn't mention them again. _Why, could they know something?_ Marcus thought.

Marcus did a search on the computer, random words, …..'time', 'Torch', 'time shift', 'oddities', 'strangeness'…..the computer came up with an organisation 'Torchwood' that some nerds said that investigated aliens, strange events and other odd occurrences. Could they explain, could they understand, could they fix this? Marcus's mind raced with these thoughts. More research revealed that this 'Torchwood' was in Cardiff, that's a pretty big place, but there was a group of researchers/nerds that got together to discuss this 'Torchwood' group. Marcus found out when they meet next and arranged to go to the next meeting, which luckily was in 2 days time, in Cardiff.

XXXXXXXXX

The information from the Torchwood researchers/nerds group that Marcus obtained seemed strange but what happened was strange so he had to try, had to try to see if they could help him. He was convinced that they were able to reverse time, they had some sort of time shifter thingy that could fix these types of events. Could Torchwood help Marcus fix this, could Marcus go back 35 years and save the girl, save his daughter, he was so sure that the girl his dad and him saw the day was his daughter even though at that time he wasn't even a dad himself, even though she wasn't even born at that time.

Marcus settled himself in front of his computer and put together the information he had to formulate a plan.

XXXXXXXXX

Owen headed up to the tourist office looking for Ianto, yeah he could have spoken to him over the comms but this wasn't for the comms, he wanted to talk to him in person. Owen was a little nervous, an unusual event for him but we all change, Torchwood changes people.

Ianto, looking through some catalogues on his lap top, leaning on the counter, turned as he heard the hidden door slide open to reveal Owen. "Hey Owen, heading out? I didn't hear that there was a rift alert"

'Yeah, no,… no rift alert, just stretching my legs" Owen said nervously.

"Oh okay" Ianto said.

Owen stood there watching as Ianto began re-arranging the Cardiff tourist maps on top of the counter, Ianto sensed Owen's nervousness, thought well, that's strange, but strange is something you get used to at Torchwood. After several minutes, Ianto said "Oh Owen, did you want something?"

"Ah…um, yeah" Owen spoke hesitantly "it's just,…it's Tosh's birthday next week, and I …..um, I thought that we could go out …." he stuttered, "all of us" he added quickly.

"Yeah, that's sounds good, Tosh would love that" Ianto said smiling, thinking that was nice of Owen even if it was ususual coming from Owen.

"Yeah that's the thing, do you know what restaurant she would like to go to, since you two are quite close", Owen said anxiously.

"Yeah she has been admiring the new restaurant down the road, the Thai one, you know the one?" Ianto said.

"Yeah, um…that's sounds good…..um… do you think that….um….oh forget it" Owen flustered.

Ianto sensing that Owen was trying to say something but for some strange and crazy reason he was having trouble expressing himself, is this Owen, has Owen been replaced by an alien, oh well with Torchwood anything is possible. "Owen, what is it?" Ianto asked quizzically.

"No, forget it Ianto, stupid idea, stupid ….never gonna happen" Owen muttered.

"Owen, do you want to ask Tosh out?" Ianto asked as he slowly realised why Owen was acting not like himself.

"Yeah" Owen said slowly, "Do you think that she would go out to dinner with me?"

"Hell yeah, Owen, are you blind?" Ianto said incredibly.

"What?" Owen said.

"She's liked you for …forever" Ianto stated.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Oh, yeah!" Owen said his smile lighting up his face.

Owen walked back through the hidden door with a slight spring to his step.

Ianto shook his head, smiling and went back to his laptop, looking at the possible places that Jack and he were going to visit on their holiday to Venice.

The comms crackled "Rift alert" Ianto quickly closed his laptop and raced down to the Hub.

XXXXXXXXX

The information, although hard to find, was there once Marcus was able to isolate this mysterious Captain, there appeared to be 5 people associated with Torchwood, this Captain, 2 men and 2 women. The photos were grainy but were always associated with strange events. The whereabouts of its base were harder to find but it seemed that it was somewhere near the Cardiff Millennium Centre. Marcus decided to go there and see if he could find more out, so without so much as letting anyone know he drove off in the direction of the Cardiff Millennium Centre.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Jack, Ianto, Gwen and Owen strode out across the Plas, heading towards the parked black SUV where it was left, when Owen parked it last, too lazy to park it in its safest parking spot in the private car park. Jack was talking to Tosh through the comms, Owen and Ianto were talking quietly between themselves discussing Owen's eventual date with Tosh, Owen was going to take her out the day after her birthday as Gwen had planned for them all to go to the pub to celebrate Tosh's birthday with a few drinks, rift permitting. Gwen was on her mobile listening to Rhys rant about something or other. As they approached the SUV Jack reached inside his jacket to retrieve the car keys, but Ianto pulled out the keys from his jacket pocket as he rounded about to the driver's side. Jack looked at Ianto stunned and a slight smile.

"I'm sure I picked them up, how did you get them?" Jack asked pouting.

"Jack, I'm driving, the rift is close by so there's no need to scare the locals with your driving" Ianto said with a smile on his impossibly beautiful face. Since he and Jack had committed themselves exclusively he was happiest that he has ever been and he was more relaxed and his beauty shone through. Jack smirked and raised one eyebrow quizzically at his lover.

"Right keep, keep the comms open, thanks Tosh" Jack said ending the conversation with Tosh as the rest of the team got in the SUV, Ianto in the driver's seat, Jack in the front passenger seat and Owen and Gwen in the back. Gwen retracted the computer accessing the computer via Tosh who was showing them the location of the current rift.

As the SUV drove off it was watched by Marcus who had sat in the Plas waiting for something that might be that of the elusive Torchwood. When he saw the SUV and Torchwood team, the captain sticking out like a sore thumb, it was quite hard not to notice the man, what with his old World War II coat flapping about as he walked with his 'team' to a large black SUV. Curiously the SUV also had TORCHWOOD etched on its roof, so much for being a secret organisation!

Marcus ran to his car that was parked nearby, noting with indifference that it had a parking ticket on it, and drove off in the same direction of the SUV. He watched from a distance as the SUV parked at a nearby alleyway and the 3 men and woman got out of the SUV and spread out two by two, the Captain and a tall handsome young man together and the woman with the other smaller man.

After some time Marcus watched astonishingly as the Captain and the young man had what appeared a man in overalls with a bag over its lopping head and they bundled it into the large boot of the SUV. They were shortly followed by the other two, arguing with each other as they climbed into the SUV. This time the Captain got in the driver's seat and drove off.

Marcus followed the SUV at quite a distance back to the Plas. The SUV disappeared into what Marcus supposed was an underground car park. So Marcus waited and watched, he needed to find where they actually where situated if he was to get inside and locate the time shifter.

XXXXXXXXXX

Ianto with Owen's help got the sedated Weevil out of the SUV boot and brought him?her? up to the cells, "Lets see if this one likes our Janet" Owen stated straight faced.

"Not likely, Janet hasn't liked any of the ones we've brought back, my bet is this is another one we will have to return to the sewers" Ianto commented dryly.

XxxxxxxX

"So which pub have you organised for us to go to celebrate Tosh's birthday tomorrow, the usual local or the other pub with the karoke" Jack asked Gwen.

"Oh no Jack, no karoke, the last time we were there as lovely as yours and Ianto's voices are, no one needs to see you two singing love ballads to each other and then … well lets just say that I don't think the audience was expecting you to snog Ianto on the stage and to top it off you go for a grope ….whilst you were on the stage!, I mean, no one knew where to look." Gwen said sheepishly, "So no, Jack it will be at the local with **no** karoke!"

Jack laughed loudly, recalling when he and Ianto got a wee bit drunk at the local after celebrating capturing a large haul of weevils and had put them into safer environments away from the Cardiff citizens.

XxxxxxxxX

After putting the newly acquired weevil in the cell next to Janet the team cleaned themselves up and set to head home. Gwen rang Rhys to tell him that she would be ready to be collected in the Plas in 10 minutes. Tosh checked the rift for any rift activity that may occur overnight one last time knowing that Jack carrying with him a remote rift alarm with him, they all set off home, exiting from the tourist information centre. Owen put out his arm in invitation for Tosh to hook her arm through his; she did so shyly, looking out of the corner of her eye to Ianto who smiled at his friend arching his eyebrows. Gwen hooked her arms between Jack and Ianto as they walked across the Plas to where Rhys was going to collect Tosh and Gwen.

Marcus tightly wrapped his jacket around him more to keep the cold out while he watched the Torchwood team exit out of a tourist information centre and walked towards the pub. Now was the time for him to try to gain entry into this place, he had to find this time shifter, if they had one, they had to, his daughter's life was banking on it. After an hour of searching Marcus couldn't find a way in or a way to break in, there were security cameras everywhere as well as the tightest defence into gaining entry into this torchwood place. So he would have to find another way, then he thought he wouldn't know what a time shifter thingy would look like or even how to work it, so his next part of his evolving plan would be to wait for one of the team to be on their own and then gain entry using that team member. Marcus didn't even think about the lives of others now, he was so focussed on only fixing this, getting his daughter's life back.

This was his only way.

_A/N: Reviews makes me smile._


	3. Chapter 3

Time Intertwined 

Chapter 3a

Tosh's birthday and the team were heading to the local pub, the one without the karaoke. The rift was quiet so they decided to head there in the early afternoon. Tosh brought along the remote rift alarm, to alert them if the rift decided to spew something out although the predictions say the rift should be quiet for at least 2 days but working for Torchwood means that the team have to be ready for anything.

The rift wasn't the only thing that was quiet, Owen was unusually quiet, Ianto walked up to Owen.

"So you asked her?" Ianto inquired of his friend.

"Yeah, we going tomorrow, I've made a booking" Owen swallowed and replied.

"So why so quiet?" Ianto said smiling.

"Mate, I don't want to mess this up, my track record is not that good" Owen said worriedly.

"I wouldn't worry about it, Tosh has seen you at your worst and she still likes you, go figure!" Ianto laughed and jogged up to Jack who was arm in arm with Gwen. Ianto didn't get jealous any more with Jack and Gwen, well, not too jealous, Gwen had her Rhys, they were getting married and she was happy. Ianto slipped his hand into Jack's hand, Jack turned towards him and smiled his megawatt smile. After all this time that smile of Jack's still made Ianto melt, Ianto leaned his head to Jack's shoulder and closed his eyes momentarily in the gratefulness that was his life.

The pub was not so busy as it as still quite early, people hadn't clocked off work as yet, but in about an hour the pub would probably be filled with tired workers having a drink before heading home. The team picked a booth to fit them all; Rhys was expected to come in 45 minutes, while Jack went to get them all a drink, bringing back a giant cocktail for Tosh, with all the trimmings, thankfully it had a straw so she could extract the heady mixture. As Jack sat down next to Ianto he noticed that Ianto was distracted and was searching his pockets for something.

"What's you lost? …well other than your heart to me" Jack said with a smirk to Ianto.

"I got Tosh a small gift from us all and bloody hell, well I forgot it in my desk" Ianto sighed.

"Give it to her tomorrow" Jack said, "I don't want you to go, leaving me with Gwen" Jack said pouting.

"No, tomorrow is a special day" Ianto said then added upon seeing Jack's puzzled face, "and it's got nothing to do with me, you or Gwen"

"Huh?" Jack said quizzically.

"Tosh is on a date with Owen tomorrow" Ianto whispered "So today is with her friends, tomorrow is Owen's day, so I want to give it to her today, besides today is her birthday"

"Okay l will go with you" Jack said.

"Jack! No, I am quite capable of going by myself, I'll be gone for 5 minutes, 10 minutes tops, if you come we won't be back for 30 minutes or more" Ianto admonished Jack, knowing that if Jack and he went back to the Hub then Jack would take advantage that they had the Hub to themselves whilst the guys were in the pub, "besides it's Tosh's birthday and not yours" Ianto winked at Jack.

"Aww, you don't play fair" Jack quietly whined to Ianto.

"If you play your cards right you might get to play and I'll let you cheat" Ianto smiled at Jack and left before Jack could say anything more.

In the shadows of the corner of the pub, Marcus watched this exchange, he had slipped into the pub when he realised that the torchwood team were going there. When he saw one of the team, what he thought was the youngest member of the torchwood team leave he decided to see where he was going, hopefully back to the 'headquarters'. So he quietly slipped out of the pub, and followed the young man walk down to the pier to the tourist office.

Ianto quickly opened the tourist information door, and just finger locked it, he was only going to be a few minutes so he didn't want to waste time by locking and unlocking all the locks. As Ianto opened the hidden door, the tourist office door burst open and a man with a wild look on his face pushed Ianto up against the wall and quietly said "Get me the time shifter" with a knife to Ianto's throat.

Chapter 3b

"What?...What? Time shifter?" Ianto said, as he tried to reach his comms, Marcus saw him move his hand and with adreninel coursing through his veins Marcus he shoved Ianto's hand away, he had watched them long enough to know that was how they communicated with each other, by a blue tooth device in their ears, he couldn't have the rest of them coming as well.

"Don't play stupid with me, I know all about Torchwood and how you mess around with time" Marcus sneered.

"Look man, I really don't know what you are talking about" Ianto needed to find a way to get away, he's dealt with aliens for god's sake, but this man seemed deranged and he was quite determined.

"We don't have time for this, just get me the time shifter, take me back 35 years and you can forget I was even here and you can go back to your boyfriend", Marcus scoffed at Ianto "Is it back here, in the back room?"

"No, just more tourist brochures" Ianto kept his cool, it won't do to rise to this guy's anger, he will just play it safe till he can get a chance to alert the others, or he can disarm him, he thought.

Marcus pushed Ianto into the opening of the where the hidden door was, with the knife at his neck, providing the incentive to get Ianto to move, his body flush to Ianto's back, giving Ianto no room to move to disarm him.

Ianto stopped at the dangling room divider not wanting to reveal what was behind the hidden door. "MOVE" Marcus commanded, pressing more firmly the knife into his neck.

Ianto reluctantly reached out and moved the dividers apart. Walking through the tunnel Ianto slowed his pace in the hope that Jack would wonder what was taking him so long and come back to the Hub to investigate. Reaching the cog door Ianto hesitated, Marcus pushed him in the back, "Open it" he said venomously.

Even though Marcus was momentarily stunned by what he saw when he entered the Hub it was not enough for Ianto to be able to disarm him, the knife perilously close to his jugular. Marcus stared at the rift manipulator as he watched it vibrate and hum and pushed Ianto towards it. "That's gotta be it, take me back 35 years"

"Huh, it doesn't work that way" Ianto spoke before thinking.

"It took my daughter and killed her twice" Marcus didn't care anymore, seeing the thing that he imagined caused his daughter to die twice and being so close to what could stop it, pushed him over the edge. "I've read and learnt what you do, people are taken out of time, YOU will get me back" Marcus waved the knife around slashing Ianto's cheek. Ianto reached up to try to deflect the knife but Marcus quickly moved the knife away and in the scuffle the knife entered Ianto's right side, piercing the flesh and plunged several inches into Ianto's lung.

Ianto crumpled to the ground, with an ever widening red stain surrounding him. Marcus, shocked that he caused this, stopped, he had never intended to hurt anyone, but he needed to go back to 1975, help the girl, so she doesn't die, so his daughter doesn't befall the same fate. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry but I got to go back, please, I'm sorry"

Marcus looked at the rift manipulator and saw the computers nearby and thought there must be something on there that could tell him how to operate this thing. "Which one of these computers operates the time shifter?" Marcus asked Ianto. Ianto while still conscious, the blood bubbling out of his mouth and losing blood fast from his chest wound murmured, " Rift in space, time is…..time is…" and then Ianto lost consciousness.

_A/N: I know, why is it always Ianto?_


	4. Chapter 4

Time Intertwined

Chapter 4a

Tosh finished the cocktail, large as it was, she thought she would take all night, but Owen took pity on her and removed all the fruit and decorations off it to show that it was something she could manage. Tosh's heart skipped a beat when Owen hand accidently touched hers as he struggled with the pineapple wedge that was stuck and refusing to move. Owen felt a spark as their hands touched, he looked up at Tosh and smiled and looked into her eyes, she returned the look and sighed.

"What's taking him?" Jack whined "He should have been back already" 30 minutes had passed and Rhys was walking in the pub door.

"He must have forgotten where he put it," Gwen stated as she spotted her husband-to-be coming through the door, wave and head for them.

"Ianto? Forget? I doubt it" Jack knew of Ianto's eidetic memory, he would never forget anything; Jack was getting more than a little worried. He pushed the blue tooth device and got no answer. "Mmmm, I'm going to see what's keeping him" Jack left quickly not bothering to take his coat, before the others had a chance to say anything.

XXXXXXXXX

Marcus saw that there were some controls on the, what did the young man call it rift something, and looked to see if there was anything that he could understand, surely there would a 'year' indicator or a dial to turn back time or something, he thought.

Ianto groaned as he slipped in and out of consciousness. Marcus bent down to Ianto, "Tell me how to work it, tell me, tell me now!" he yelled.

XXXXXXXX

Jack jogged over to the tourist office as he knew that is Ianto's preferred way of entry. As he approached he noticed the door was ajar, that wasn't like Ianto, he thought a little panicky, as he picked up speed. Jack entered the tourist office, his hand automatically reaching for his gun. The hidden doorway was opened and there was no sign of Ianto, definitely not like Ianto at all. Jack hit the blue tooth device at his ear "Owen get over here now! Something is not right" Jack said quickly and raced down into the Hub.

Marcus was leaning over Ianto as he screamed at him to tell him how to work the rift manipulator as Jack raced inside.

"Move away from him" Jack rushed over to Ianto, pushing Marcus out of the way, his only thoughts were for Ianto seeing the ever widening pool of blood spreading out underneath him. Leaning over Ianto and pulling him to his side, he hardly noticed Marcus. Marcus startled, yelled "I didn't mean to hurt him, I just need to get back"

Jack wasn't listening to Marcus, he was trying to get Ianto to respond, Ianto's unconscious state had him worried, worried that he had lost Ianto far too soon because of Torchwood. How many had to die, and why Ianto, why him, the man who could make him smile when Torchwood decisions were hard to make, the man who didn't hold Jack up on a pedestal but treated him like he was special in different ways, the man that Jack wanted to spend as much time with, to grow old with, to watch Ianto grow old, he wanted so much to watch Ianto grow old.

Marcus picked up his knife that was he dropped, watching Jack lovingly caress Ianto, Marcus understood this but he couldn't let Jack's sorrow affect his own, if he could just go back 35 years, save his daughter then he wouldn't have to come here and hurt this young man, bleeding out on the floor of this place. "Tell me how to work it, I need to get back, I've got to save her" Marcus yelled anxiously, poking the knife at Jack's back. Jack stood up quickly wanting to exact his revenge on the man who done this to Ianto, not noticing that Marcus had the knife close to his back. As Jackn spun around and lauching himself at Marcus the knife that was held firmly by Marcus plunged the full length, into Jack's body and into his heart between his ribs. With a shocked look on his face Jack slumped to the floor near Ianto, his arm falling protectively over Ianto as Owen, Gwen and Tosh entered the Hub, guns drawn.

"Stand down….NOW!" Owen yelled.

Marcus looked around to see the other team members standing there with their guns drawn and approaching him quickly. Marcus dropped the knife and slumped to the ground on his knees, "I just want to go back, it was never meant to happen like this"

Owen seeing the pool of blood under Ianto with Jack slumped over Ianto raced over to them. Owen pushed Jack off Ianto, not giving Jack a second thought, he knew what ever had befallen Jack, he would recover from; as for Ianto, he doesn't have that advantage. Owen could see almost immediately what was causing the pool of blood, he quickly tore Ianto's shirt, knowing that Ianto would bemoan the loss of a good shirt, although with the knife hole in it even Ianto would have to agree that it wouldn't be a good shirt anymore, Owen silently prayed that Ianto would wake soon and complain about the torn shirt. Owen could see that the wound was deep and knew that he would have to stop the bleeding now. Owen called out to Tosh to get the alien device that they uncovered in a bombed out building only 3 weeks ago, he had done some experiments with the device on minor cuts, it appeared to fuse the flesh together but the wound. Owen hoped this new alien device would help his friend, but the wound that Ianto had was more than a cut, and he suspected that Ianto's lung was pieced as well, as Ianto had blood dribbling from his mouth but he had to give it a try. As he contemplated whether to use Ianto as a guinea pig, Jack revived with a gasp.

While Owen was seeing to Ianto, Gwen and Tosh rushed over to Marcus and pushed him down to the floor, face down. Gwen screamed "What have you done? Who are you?"

Tosh held her gun at Marcus, in a way that meant business, so Marcus didn't question whether the little Japanese woman would shoot him so he stayed down. Tosh heard Owen ask for the alien device that they suspected would rapidly heal wounds, it had worked on minor wounds but the wound that Ianto had seemed much more than a minor cut from the amount of blood pooling beneath him. "Are you sure Owen?" Tosh asked tentatively.

"The wound is too deep, and he's losing too much blood, I don't have time to stitch him up he will bleed out before I can seal the lung" Owen desperately voiced his concern.

With a gasping breath Jack sat up, remembering what occurred before he died, and reached around for Ianto. Relief washed over him when he saw Owen was there, but that relief faded away when he heard the conversation between Tosh and Owen. "Just do it Owen, do something!" Jack pleaded.

"Help me get him down to the autopsy bay" Owen barked.

Jack gently lifted his lover up in his arms and carefully walked down to the autopsy bay. Owen set the scanner to better see the extent of the injury as Tosh grabbed the alien device that she had on her table as she was the last to use it, to attempt to found out its power source.

Gwen had Marcus handcuffed and sitting up on the floor. "My friend had better survive this. Or you will have hell to pay" she said gruffly to Marcus.

"Don't care anymore, what's the point, I didn't help her, didn't save her" Marcus said sadly shaking his head, his eyes downcast. "I just wanted to go back, I would have made things right"

Owen saw from the scanner that it was as he suspected, Ianto's lung was pieced. And so Owen with some reluctance lifted the alien device, looked up at Jack, who nodded his head, held the device to Ianto's right side and pressed the green button. After an anxious minute the flesh seemed to bubble and then start to reformulate. After another minute Ianto took a deep breath. Owen who was holding his own breath took a breath himself.

"He'll be fine Jack, just fine" Owen said with relief.

Then Ianto's eyes fluttered open, his brilliant blue eyes made contact with Jack's own blue eyes and he frowned " I'm sorry I di…" Jack shushed him with a gentle kiss.

"Nothing to be sorry about" Jack reassured Ianto caressing his face, holding his gaze with watery eyes, "stay here, I'll be back". Jack gave Owen a look that said 'stay here with him, I'm going to deal with that scum bag above'.

XxxxxxxxX

Jack grabbed Marcus who gave no resistance and demanded to know what was his purpose, why did he want to hurt Ianto and how did he get in.

Marcus explained everything to Jack, what happened 35 years ago, the murder of his daughter 2 weeks ago and the hope to return back to 1975 to help the girl and therefore prevent the murder of his own daughter. He didn't know Ianto and that he had been watching them after learning about Torchwood through some internet interest groups and that he took Ianto by surprise when he returned from the pub.

Gwen, Tosh and Jack listened very intently, it was very important that they understood why someone not known to them or Ianto would want to hurt Ianto. Jack nodded and shook his head throughout and when Marcus finished telling them his story, Jack said "Marcus the rift doesn't do what you want, I'm sorry, we don't have that control, we only pick up the pieces that the rift spits out. I'm sorry but you'll won't be able to return to 1975, what's done is done, you won't be able to get your daughter back" although Jack was angry with him when he climbed the stairs from the autopsy bay and was determined to make him pay for almost killing Ianto, he could understand the urge to return to an earlier time to fix an event, but Jack knew only too well, that events such as these can't be changed as much as you may want them to.

Marcus started to sob, he would have placed his hands over his eyes but they were still handcuffed behind him so he could only hang his head and cry in his lap.

Gwen, Tosh and Jack walked away to give him a moment. Tosh went to get him a glass of water. Gwen whispered to Jack "What do we do with him? Hand him over to police or retcon him?"

Tosh returned with a glass of water as Jack said "Nothing, we do nothing, we will return him home, the grief will be enough punishment, putting him in prison won't help, retcon him? How far back do we retcon him, 35 years? We may as well put him in a mental ward."

_A/N: this is where I ended it last time with a little epilogue, so from here on is the new addition to this fic. _

Chapter 4b

That night Ianto and Jack lay side by side enjoying the fact that they were still here, living, thanks to the new alien tech that Owen worked out how to use and Jack's immortality, "I know that one day you will die and I will be left alone without you, but today was too soon, today was so close"

"It's fine, I'm fine" Ianto soothed Jack, as he could see that Jack was quite spooked by today's events.

"No it's not fine, what if Owen didn't have that device that was able to heal the hole in your lung?" Jack said almost overcome with emotion.

"Hey, hey, its okay" Ianto caressed Jack's cheek, "then Owen would have come up with some other way of saving me, he's the best, that's why you hired him, you only hire the best" Ianto said with a wink, trying to defused the tension and worry evident in Jack.

"Yeah, you're right, you're always right" Jack said admirably, and in the spur of the moment forgetting that he had planned to do this in romantic Italy, he blurted out, "Marry me"

"Huh, what?"

"Oh god, this is not how I planned it" Jack said shaking his head, reaching over to his coat that was hanging over the nearby chair and grabbing the ring in his pocket, "Ianto Jones, would you do me the honour of marrying me?" Jack said.

"Um,… oh,….yes, yes, ….yes Jack" Ianto said gleefully.

Wrapping their arms around each other and they crushed their lips together pouring their love in the kiss. Hands started to roam, moans were emitted and the last of their clothes were shed.

Several hours later as they laid there catching their breath Ianto asked, "We're still going to Italy aren't we?"

"Of course" Jack said laughing.

"It can be our honeymoon" Ianto said, Jack laughed seeing that Ianto was really happy that he asked him to marry him.

Jack snuggled closer to Ianto, drifting off to sleep, then he remembered something earlier. "So Owen and Tosh?" Jack asked quizzically, "You knew, didn't you? Why didn't you tell me, why am I the last to know" Jack jokily asked.

XXXXXXXX

On the other side of town Marcus after returning home in defeat and sorrow, at not being able to return to that faithful time that decided his daughter's demise, answered the door to a stranger, "Yes?"

"Marcus Andrews, I have an offer for you" the stranger said.

"What? Offer? Who are you?" Marcus asked confused.

"A friend who can help you fix the time shift for when your daughter was murdered" the brown haired man in the strange coat said, and then added self- assuredly, "interested?"

_A/ N: The last part of this chapter is the beginning of the added-on part of this story. Please review._


	5. Chapter 5

Time Intertwined

_A/N: From here on is the added chapters._

Chapter 5

10am in the Hub and the whole team were in, doing their usual everyday jobs that kept them occupied when they weren't out retrieving wayward aliens, the caffeine still coursing through their veins from the morning dose of 'Ianto brew'. After handing out their brew of choice to his fellow colleagues, and a promise to Jack that tonight is the best time for the activity that Jack suggested when Ianto brought in his industrial strength coffee, Ianto headed down to the archives cataloguing the latest rift refuse.

Gwen was at her computer attempting to find a pattern in the weevil sightings in the heart of Cardiff while interestingly Owen appeared to be completely engrossed with cutting up a corpse of the latest victim that met with a shape shifting alien that came through the rift the other day, but his eyes kept drifting up at Tosh as she was calibrating a new computer system she set up. Jack had noticed that Owen was getting more 'polite' around Tosh, holding back his sarcasm when around her, _oh well we all grow up, hey even himself_, he thought, what with not wanting to sleep around and be exclusive with Ianto, he supposed with all the weirdness and abnormal nature of their lives associated with Torchwood, it was nice to have some normality, even if it is in the form of new love between colleagues, well he couldn't exactly discourage it, that would be hypocritical of him.

Jack was reading and signing yet another report thinking when next he would see his Ianto in the flesh and not just on the CCTV that he was trying not to stare at, when Tosh called out, "Rift in Bute Park"

"Ianto, Gwen you're with me, Owen finish off that corpse, Tosh monitor and update us" Jack spoke into the comms, informing his team what he expected from them.

XXXXXXXX

Marcus and his new 'friend' stood in Bute Park, "Okay now we wait"

"Sorry, explain it to me again, how does this help me?" Marcus said.

Marcus's 'friend' sighs and says exhaustedly, "The Torchwood team come out to find out what the rift has delivered, we gain entry into their vehicle via their boot, they won't be putting anything big in their boot as I've left something small for them to collect, we get into the base through their private car park and when everyone goes home, I'll help you to work the rift manipulator so you can get back to the time you need"

"And what do you get out of this?" Marcus asked.

"I need to speak to the Torchwood leader, I have something important to tell him" the dark haired man said.

"Why don't you just tell him when you see him here?" Marcus asked some part of him thinking his 'friend' is not telling the whole truth, but not really caring as all he wanted was to gain entry into the underground base while no one was there. This way he could have more time to work out how to operate the 'time shifter' without having to hurt anyone.

"Well last time we talked we had a fight so if I accost him out in the park he will just walk off, I want to explain myself, I upset him and I want to apologise" Marcus's friend said sadly, "and it's best I talk to him after the others have left"and thinking he didn't want the others interfering and getting in his way and thwarting his plan.

Marcus felt that his 'friend' sounded so sincere and knew the heartache of having to repair unresolved issues and so he thought that they would both gain something with this subterfuge, "Okay sure" Marcus reassured him.

The dark haired man smiled, thinking '_this time Jack, I get you back'_, turning to Marcus, "Right, here they come, stay quiet"

XxxxxxxxX

"Anything?" Jack asked again.

"The rift spike was only small, there is some residue left, but it is so small it's hard to locate" Ianto said shaking his head, frustrated that what he was reading on the handheld remote rift locator was not showing much, "Tosh can you shed any more light?"

"Sorry Ianto, I'm getting pretty much the same reading as you, very minor" Tosh said apologetically.

"Something must have been left behind, not leaving here till we find it, look for something small, the smallest thing are usually the most dangerous, okay fan out" Jack said to Ianto and Gwen.

After 15 minutes more of searching Gwen finally found what Jack verified as alien, a small tool used by the alien race.

"So what is it Jack?" Gwen asked Jack as he didn't offer any more explanation of what it was.

"Okay bag it" Jack said rolling his eyes and shaking his head.

"But what is it Jack?" Gwen repeated, curiousily thinking it could be dangerous after what Jack said that the smallest things can be dangerous.

"Nothing important" Jack said pursing his lips.

Ianto didn't say anything, knowing when not to pursue a subject with Jack.

"But is it dangerous?" Gwen said, she was never one to let things go.

"A can opener, a freakin' can opener!" Jack said sheepishly.

Ianto and Gwen laughed uproariously as they scrambled back in the SUV while Jack stowed away the alien can opener into his pocket of his great coat ignoring the sniggers of his two colleagues, "Okay back to the Hub, maybe pick up a pizza on the way back? Ianto ring through an order"

"You sure? I've got some cans of baked beans back at the Hub, now that we've got something to open it with" Ianto said holding together a giggle.

Jack looked at him with disdain.

The rest of the trip passed with a few sniggers from Gwen, Ianto ordering pizza and silence from Jack, all three unknowing that they were carrying other passengers.

XXXXXXXXX

Tucking into their pizzas Tosh asked for the alien device found at Bute Park.

'I gave it to Ianto for archiving, no need to examine it, I was able to identify it" Jack explained stony faced.

"Yeah but…." Tosh stopped when she caught sight of Ianto shaking his very slightly and desperately telling her with his eyes to drop it.

Jack finally seeing the hilarity of the situation said, "I'll have you know that sometimes the smallest tool can be the most dangerous and sometimes fun" the last part of the sentence aimed at Ianto.

Ianto smirked as he caught Jack's drift, then looked away as he felt his face flush, "I'll clean up now then sir" Ianto said politely, knowing that Jack would rush the others out in anticipation.

"Well kids, it's late, if the rift is going to be quiet you can all go home" Jack turned towards Tosh, "Tosh?"

"Yes Jack, the rift is predicted to be quiet for at least ten hours" Tosh answered.

"Right then off you go, go and have dinner with loved ones, watch a movie, whatever" Jack said cheerfully.

XxxxxxxxX

Marcus and the brown haired man extracted themselves from the SUV and quietly made their way into the Hub undetected by the Torchwood team, mainly because this was not anticipated and Marcus's friend was able to override the alarm.

XxxxxxxxX

"Oh Ianto I think I'm due for an apology" Jack said smirking, seeking out Ianto who was still cleaning up after the others had left.

"And why would that be sir" Ianto dead panned.

Coming up behind Ianto, Jack wrapped his arms around Ianto's slender waist, kissing his neck, "Hmmm, you know what, and I think a spanking is in order"

"Well in that case, I have been a very naughty boy" Ianto said trying to sound contrite while trying to suppress a chuckle.

"Right then, off to my room, take off your clothes and wait for me" Jack said sternly holding back the smirk. Ianto bounced off in the direction of Jack's underground room.

XxxxxxxxX

Marcus and his 'friend' made their way through the tunnel up into the Hub while Jack and Ianto were otherwise busy.

"So how are you going to make the time shifter work" Marcus asked his friend.

"What… yeah, okay" the stranger said indifferently.

"What can I do? I have some knowledge I used to be an engineer" Marcus said.

"Yeah whatever" the friend said uninterestedly, thinking that once Ianto was distracted with Marcus he would be able to put his plan into action.

"There it is" Marcus said, seeing the rift manipulator, "there must be a control panel somewhere"

XxxxxxxxxX

"Going to make a coffee" Ianto said stretching and rubbing his red bottom, "your usual?"

Seeing Ianto rub his arse and slip on a pair of boxers, 'Did I hurt you?" Jack asked concerned.

"Nah, not too much, just a slight sting, it's all good" Ianto said smiling and giving Jack a quick peck on the lips, "back in a moment. You hungry?"

"I'm always hungry, what do you have?" Jack smiled thinking that Ianto looked after him too well, in every aspect, he doesn't know how he got so lucky to have Ianto in his life, but he was just grateful that he had.

"I bought those biscuits that you like"

"Did I tell you that I love you" Jack said cheekily.

"Only when it is concerning food and sex" Ianto said smirking, feeling uncomfortable whenever the talk turned to love, he loved Jack but wanted to tell Jack when there wasn't sex or food involved, to have more meaning.

"Well I love you Ianto Jones" Jack whispered sincerely as Ianto climbed up the ladder out of the bunker, unheard by Ianto.

As Ianto walked through the Hub his thoughts were solely on Jack and how he made him feel very special and that he was in the best place in his life right now and how he was so happy and content. With these contented thoughts he didn't notice the two men in the Hub as he made his way down to the kitchenette.

Marcus looked at the rift manipulator as it hummed and blinked its numerous lights, this time he was able to really look at it; it was cylindrical in shape, almost rocket like. A faint blue light at its top seemed to pulsate encased in some round piping, below that were some thick circular flanges, some that had thick cables leading out of them, underneath those it flared out into a wider body, with a bright, almost too bright yellow light that hurt his eyes to stare at it for too long. There were some little blinking green lights circling around the main body then the same blue light that seemed to be connected to the blue light above as they pulsed together in unison and it appeared that they were rising and lowering as well in a rhythmic motion.

Marcus couldn't see any obvious panel that he could program dates in on the actual machine as he walked around most of it. He placed his hands on one of the wires, following it he saw that it was connected to a computer nearby, good, he thought, the computer would give him some control as the actual 'thing' didn't have anything that he could see that would allow him to enter any dates. Sitting down to the computer he tried a few applications that he hoped would do what he wanted. He was so intent on his task he was not aware of what was occurring not far from him, with his friend and the young man that he nearly killed not that long ago.

Reaching up into the cupboard Ianto felt two arms wrap around his waist murmured, "Mmmm decided to check that I'm bringing up the whole packet Jack?"

"Hmm the whole package is what I always like" the voice said behind Ianto. Ianto turned to face, not Jack but John Hart.

_A/N: So tell me what you think so far?_


	6. Chapter 6

Time Intertwined

Chapter 6

"What are you doing here?" Ianto spat, "how did you get in"

"Oh it's not me that you need to be concerned about eye candy" John said smugly, "you should check out what Marcus is doing with your rift manipulator"

"What?" Ianto said racing off in the direction of the rift manipulator, luckily he was still wearing his comms in his ear, pressing it he shouted, "Jack get down here now"

John stood there smiling, glad that his plan was working like a charm, Jack will come storming down here, he'll probably grab me and with him close enough to the rift manipulator, I will be able to whisk him away from this backward planet. He needed Jack to be close to the rift manipulator as he worked out that with the combination of his working Vortex Manipulator and the rift he could have the boost he needed to get Jack and himself away from this rock with their stupid rules and limitations, how could Jack stand to be here, really he's doing Jack a favour. Soon they would be back travelling the stars having fun, he thought gleefully.

Jack hearing the alert by Ianto quickly pulled on his trousers and grabbed his shirt as he climbed up the stairs, stumbling a bit but managing to get down to the kitchenette within a minute.

"Where are you Ianto?" Jack said full of concern.

"The rift manipulator" Ianto said quickly, seeing Marcus sitting at one of the computers that the rift manipulator was connected to.

"Marcus, what are you doing here….again? Ianto asked recognising the man who almost killed him a few weeks back.

"Look I don't want to hurt anyone" Marcus said with his hands up, "I just need to get back, John here said that this device can get me back"

Ianto had forgotten that John was in the Hub in his rush to get to the rift manipulator. Hearing John's name Ianto remembered that John accosted him in the kitchen, looked towards John who was standing to the side, leaning against railing, his arms folded across his chest, looking smug. "What eye candy, he's a very determined man, what can I say?" John Hart said.

Jack rushed in, taking in the scene, "What's going on here?" he said angrily.

"Oh Jackie boy, glad that you joined us" John said smiling smugly, standing closely to the rift manipulator.

"What do you want?" Jack said his voice full of venom.

"Jack?!...Nothing, why would you think that I want something, my motions are selfless, Marcus here is very distraught, he just wants to go back to help his daughter, you know what's that like, to want to help a family member, to go to another time" John said sounding sympathetic.

"John, you know that the rift manipulator doesn't do that" Jack said pointing to the rift manipulator.

"What! You told me that they had a machine that could take me back!" Marcus shouted shoving John as he rushed up to him.

"Sorry….got it wrong" John said shrugging his shoulders, trying to look innocent in a mocking way, then quicker than Jack or Ianto had time to react, John clamps the other side of a set of handcuffs onto Jack's wrist that were hanging unseen from his wrist, "but it serves my purpose, say bye to eye candy Jack" John said.

"John your Vortex Manipulator is as dead as mine, we're not going anywhere" Jack says to John as if he is talking to a naughty little boy caught trying to start dad's car but using his toy car keys.

"That's where you're wrong my dear captain, my **working** Vortex Manipulator in connection with your rift Manipulator gives me the boost that it needs. Let's go somewhere, some-when" John says smiling, very pleased with himself.

Marcus, standing close by to John, quickly understanding what's going on, launches himself onto John as John presses a button and all three fizzle out, leaving only a surge of blue light that connects the blue light of the rift manipulator to where they were standing.

"NO!" Ianto screams as he lunges towards them only to touch the electrified air where his lover was only a moment ago.

_A/N: Sorry this is a short chapter, but this is where the cliff hanger ended. _


	7. Chapter 7

Time Intertwined

Chapter 7

After tumbling through the vortex waves, Jack, John and Marcus landed on solid ground, Marcus rolling away from Jack and John with the force of the sudden stop. 'You bastard" Jack seethed trying to get his arm free away from John, "get these cuffs off me….now"

"There was a time when you loved a bit of cuffs and restr…." John said haughtily, stopping in mid-sentence as Jack's fist connected with his chin.

"Get me back" Jack yelled.

"Jack you have spent too much time on that rock" John said patronising, "give it time, you'll thank me"

"Not likely" Jack seethed, "and what's with Marcus?"

"That was not part of my plan, stupid man is obsessed" John said shaking his head, "I hope his presence hasn't screwed with my calculations"

"John, you have overstepped the mark….again, I told you before I've changed. I like my time on 'that rock' as you say" Jack said exhaustedly.

"Now to see where and when we are" John stated quizzically looking at his Vortex manipulator.

Jack turned to Marcus, "Marcus I told you we couldn't help you"

"You said that thing couldn't take me to 1975, but John here says otherwise" Marcus said determinedly.

"Yeah because John is the ultimate in truth and honesty" Jack said sarcastically.

"What the fuck! We are still here on your stupid little planet!" John spat, checking his wrist Vortex Manipulator , "we've travelled in time but not in space, damn" turning towards Marcus, "the extra weight probably screwed with the calibrations"

"So when are we?" Jack said not being able to access his because his vortex manipulator was on his wrist that was connected to John by hand cuffs.

"Sometime about thirty-five or thirty-six earth years in the past" John said frowning, "I don't know this planet's date-numbering systems"

"Hmm that would make it 1975" Jack said then turning quickly to Marcus, "what did you do on the computer?"

"I just put in October 1975 in every field I could on the computer, the computer that was connected to that rift thingy" Marcus said confidently, realisation dawning, he ran off unimpeded.

"Oh fucking great! We're still on this rock and further back in time" John said angrily.

"Get these cuffs off NOW!" Jack said, watching Marcus run off.

"We can still make good use of our predicament" John said predatory, "mmmm sex with you with cuffs….mmmm remember, good times".

"John, get these cu…." Jack said, then rethinking his situation, "mmmm restraint sex, you know I love it" reaching with his unrestrained hand to the back of John's head pulling him closer to him, his eyes dark with lust. John smirked, thinking Jack could never resist his charms, met Jack's lips, their tongues fighting for dominance. Jack's unrestrained hand roamed John's body, moaning as John's hand roamed his, John's hand pulling Jack's great coat to the side and winding his arm around Jack's waist and grasping Jack's arse, kneading it evoking more moans from Jack.

"John" Jack said breathlessly, "need to get to you, touch you"

"Yeah it's been a long time. Want you to touch me so bad" John said his breath hitching, "like old times"

"Yeah old times, just you and me" Jack murmured, biting John's ear lobe.

"See Jack it's always been just you and me, glad that you realised that eye candy was a bit a fun for a while but you know that it will always be you and me" John purred, nipping at Jack's pulse point on his neck. Their breaths becoming laboured with each touch and with some frustrations at the restrictions of the restraints.

Jack struggled to touch John, the cuffs were preventing him from reaching the places that he remembered were John's more sensitive erogenous zones. John having the same problem and getting frustrated by the restrictions that the cuffs were putting him in, reached for the key in his inner pocket of his red coat, released the lock on the cuff on his wrist. Whilst John rubbed at his wrist, Jack smiled and before John had time to react, Jack grabbed the key held loosely in John's hand and swung his fist hard into John's face flattening him to the ground. Looking to see that John wasn't getting up soon, "You just don't get it do you? That eye candy, and his name is Ianto, is what makes it all the worthwhile" then he ran off in the direction of where Marcus took off about twenty minutes ago.

Sitting up and rubbing his stinging cheek John cursed and called out to Jack "Oh come on Jack, it was just a bit of fun" looking around him John shook his head "Damn" he said annoyed with himself for by being fooled by Jack, as he watched him run off.

XXXXXXXXX

"NO!" Ianto screamed again when he realised he was too late watching the last of the sparks of the electrified air where Jack and John stood only a moment ago.

Ianto turned to the computer that Marcus was mucking about on, looking at what he was doing before he grabbed a hold of John as they disappeared into another time and space. Ianto could see that Marcus had filled in multiple fields with the same details in each, 'October 1975', quickly deducing that Marcus was hoping that the rift manipulator would take him back to the time of when he was a young boy when he and his father saw the young girl who ended up being Marcus's daughter 35 years on, _time is a strange thing where the rift was concerned_, Ianto thought.

Distraught that Jack was taken by John using his Vortex Manipulator, he had to do something to try to get Jack back, what that was, he was unsure, because until several minutes ago he thought that the rift manipulator could not transport to a particular time but what was it that John said '_my Vortex Manipulator in connection with your rift Manipulator gives me the boost that it needs_'. How come we never figured this out, well Jack never lets Tosh get her hands on his Vortex manipulator, and he was sure if John had figured this out, Tosh would have too if she got her chance at it, Ianto thought.

Thinking about what to do, Ianto's first thoughts were to call Tosh and hopefully together they can work out how to get Jack back, maybe zone in on his Vortex Manipulator or something.

"Hey Tosh, yeah I know its late, sorry", "No there is no rift alert", "Can you come in?", "Jack was taken by John", "Yeah I know, again", "He used his wrist Vortex Manipulator to take Jack away", "Well it is bigger than Jack's but Jack says that doesn't matter", "John used the rift manipulator to boost the power to his Vortex manipulator", "Yeah I don't think Jack knew either", "Okay see you soon"

Ianto hung up feeling more confident that Tosh would be able work it out and that Ianto would have Jack back in his arms again.

XXXXXXXX

Marcus, out of breath from running away from John and Jack, he gathered his breath before walking into a newsagency. He picked up a newspaper to find out that the date was indeed 35 years before and that the date was 5 days before he and his father saw the girl that they didn't help all those years ago.

Walking the six miles to the woods near his family home, Marcus made his way to the bush track where he and his father liked to cycle, where they saw the girl, his daughter from the future. He just needed to wait the five days and prevent the girl from being killed. But first he thought he would need to find a bed for the next couple of nights. He didn't want to be picked up as a vagrant.

XXXXXXXXX

Running into the township, Jack tried to find Marcus, the township was a small country town with the usual local pub, post office, general store, newsagency/bookstore, bakery, butchers and hotel. He couldn't see Marcus but he felt confident as to where Marcus would be heading, back to the woods where he and his father of 35 years ago were cycling that faithful day when they saw the girl. The girl being Marcus's daughter, that was transported somehow into the past to meet her untimely death.

Asking at the local general store Jack found out that the Radyr Woods was six miles, and no, there was no cabs, and yes he would have walk out there. The store owner looked at Jack's bare feet, looking at him quizzically, Jack remembering that he ran down to Ianto's distress barely putting on clothes. Luckily he was able to buy a pair of shoes, socks, another shirt and trousers, realising he was five days before that faithful day. Marvelling at the near accuracy of transporting them back to the time needed for Marcus to prevent his daughter's death Jack decided to head out to the woods tomorrow, finding a room for the next few nights so he could try to work out how to get back to 2010 and take Marcus back with him to stop a time loop to occur.

Jack was also aware that he needed to be careful that he didn't run into himself whilst in this time period, always a danger when he traversed the time lines. He was fairly certain that he wasn't in these parts of Wales thirty five years ago, but you never know, he may have gone out this way on a rift alert.

XXXXXXXX

After walking for a bit more than two hours, Marcus stopped and stood in the street looking at his family home watching the lights flicker on as his family, his mother, father, brother and himself from long ago, settled in for a quiet night watching the television. He so wanted to knock on the door and see his mother and father again, but knowing that any story he came up with would sounds crazy and it would not do to get arrested as a crazy person. Marcus thought to himself, several days from now would be the day that he and his father would see the girl, his daughter from 35 years in the future, but this time she would not befall the same misfortune, Marcus was determined that he would somehow prevent her death. Thinking he can't just wander around and glad that he had some cash on him, he walked back into the township, by this time it was quite dark and cold. After convincing the hotel owners that he wanted a room for five days he paid for the five days up front.

Flopping down onto the soft hotel bed, Marcus thought about the day's events and what the next four days would bring. His mind drifted to the two men that were transported to this time as well, he remembers leaving them cuffed together in the park and wondered whether John got to talk to Jack and work out their personal problems. Marcus got the feeling that they have travelled time before and they had some sort of history, he didn't really care only that he may need them after wards to get back to his time. But for the time being his main thoughts were just focussed on saving the girl, his future daughter.

Like every night after his daughter was murdered he slept restlessly, his dreams filled with death, knives and bush tracks.

XXXXXXX

Settling in for the night at the local hotel, Jack's thoughts turned to Ianto and how he may be fretting, he wished he could talk to Ianto, but knowing that Ianto was not even born in this time as yet there was no way of contacting him. He thought about of trying to touch base with the Torchwood in this time period to get some assistance but thought that may complicate things. Jack fiddled with his wrist Vortex Manipulator thinking how would he get back to 2010, John's wrist strap may be able to use the Cardiff Rift Manipulator but Jack was sure that his wrist strap, after the Doctor's meddling with it, would not be able to do what John's could do. But he had to find a way, he had to make it work, he had to get back to Ianto.

_A/N: Very Jack-centric and the next one will be as well, sorry if you want more Ianto._


	8. Chapter 8

Time Intertwined

Chapter 8

The next morning Marcus woke early, walked the narrow stairs, and left with the hotel owners' voices ringing in his ears insisting he stay for breakfast. Marcus had no time for breakfast besides he knew of a bakery around the corner that baked the best cream buns and neenish tarts daily when he was a boy and he figured he could grab one.

XXXXXXX

Jack woke, stretching out, seeking out Ianto, his hand roamed the bed before he opened his eyes. He wondered where Ianto was, he was missing Ianto's warm body next to him, opening his eyes finally and seeing the gaudy furniture of the hotel room, he quickly remembered where he was and frowned. He knew it would be a while before he saw his lover after spending all night trying to figure out how to get his Vortex manipulator to work, the only thing he worked out was that he would just have to relive the 35 years and wait till he could go back to Torchwood Cardiff at the time that John jumped him to whisk him away to parts unknown. He figured that John was wanting to go off-planet but Marcus had been mucking about with the computer that is connected to the rift Manipulator, well Jack thought that it only shown where the rifts spikes were not to control placement, but with John's working Vortex Manipulator and John's fiddling with dates on the computer combined brought them here.

Stepping down off the narrow stairs of the hotel Jack could smell the heavenly scents of a country breakfast cooking. He didn't need much convincing to eat the hearty breakfast prepared by the hotel owners. After tucking into the freshly cooked breakfast Jack thanked the matronly owner then made his way into the centre of the town to find out how to get to the Radyr Woods to scope out the area of where the girl was killed, where he thought that Marcus would be heading.

XXXXXXXX

Marcus didn't head out to the Radyr Woods after the first night spent in the past, instead he walked around the town reliving the old sights of his youth, knowing that he didn't need to go to the bush track for another four days. His thoughts wandered as to how he was going to stop the man from hurting, killing his daughter. He knew he was not acquainted with weaponry but if he was going to be able to stop the man from harming his daughter he would need to obtain something to defend himself and allow his future daughter to escape.

XXXXXXX

Thinking that he should head out to Radyr Woods knowing that Marcus would go there, Jack asked a local could he rent out a vehicle, not much luck there, in this timeline, car rental was not the norm so he walked out there instead. After the two hour walk there and then searching around and not finding Marcus and more importantly not reading any rift reading from his Vortex Manipulator he headed back into town. Weary, thirsty and hungry after his walk to the Radyr Woods and back he headed straight to the local pub.

Walking in he saw a three men at the bar, two men playing a game of darts, a couple sitting in a booth and a homely looking barmaid leaning on the counter talking animatedly to the men at the bar. Jack walked up to the bar ignoring the stares from the locals, "A pint of bitter, and are you serving dinner?"

"Yes, we got Sheppard's pie, steak and chips and roast chicken with vegetables" the barmaid said eyeing Jack appreciatory.

"Mmmm choices! What do you suggest?" Jack flirted.

"Sheppard's pie every time"

"Sheppard's pie it is" Jack said looking straight at her, then turning to the locals at the bar, "Jack" extending his hand.

The three men turned, the man closest to Jack spoke, "Bryn" and indicating his mates at the bar "Sulwyn and that's Ifan" .

"Good day Bryn, Sulwyn, Ifan" nodding his head in acknowledgement to each one, "Sorry my Welsh is a bit scratchy"

"That's okay, Sulwyn and I speak English, not so much Ifan, bit of a tradionalist" Bryn said.

"Bryn, see any strangers about town?" Jack asked casually, curious if Marcus has been sighted.

"Yeah, you" Brin said.

"Yeah besides me" Jack said trying to instil trust by maintaining eye contact.

"That fellow there" the second local said scowling indicating with his head towards the corner.

Jack turned to look and pursed his lips when he saw John sitting closely to a young woman in the corner, berating himself for not spotting John straight away. John didn't notice Jack as he was engrossed in the young woman he was with. Jack watched him from the corner of his eye, waiting to see if he was going to do something inappropriate.

"No one else?" Jack said trying to not look that he checking over at John.

"Nope"

"Game of darts?" Jack asked to deflect that he was asking about strangers knowing that he himself was a stranger in town.

The local closest to him eyed him up and down, "You play?"

"It's been a while" Jack said apologetically.

"What's you're wagering?"

"A pint for you and your mates or you pay for my dinner" Jack said good humourily.

"Done" the local nodded, "eat your grub first, Glynis, Jack here will pay after our game"

Jack laughed at the cockiness of the Bryn.

Polishing off his Sheppard's pie in record time due to the exquisite flavour and his hunger sopping up the remnants with the warm crusty bread that was served with it, Jack took up position at the dart board. After throwing the game to let Bryn win and paying for the pints as promised as well as his dinner, Jack periodically would look over to where John was to check that he wasn't doing anything stupid.

"Another game?" Bryn asked thinking that he could make a better wager than a couple of pints.

"Sure" Jack said smiling shrugging his shoulders.

"20 pounds wager?" Bryn said challenging Jack.

"Sure" Jack said silently grateful that his wallet was in his trousers when he threw them on back in 2010.

Before he could throw his first dart in the next game, the woman sitting with John stood up and slapped him across the face and attempted to walk away from him. John grabbed her hand and pushed her down. Jack was over to them before John could do anything more, "I believe the young lady is not interested"

"What the…" John spluttered.

"Off you go" Jack pulled John to standing and frog-marched him out of the pub, hissing in his ear, "Don't say a word"

Outside the pub, Jack manoeuvred John into a dark alley, "Jack you only have to ask, you know that I like it rough"

"Shut up" Jack sneered, "I would have thought you would have transported back"

John shrugged his shoulders, "Oh well, you know, thought I check out the talent here before I go"

Jack shook his head, pursing his lips, "You never change"

"And you have changed too much Jack" John sneered.

Jack sighed "With the help of people who care and after a while you get tired of the old games" Jack said tiredly.

"Yeah whatever" John said rolling his eyes.

"So your vortex manipulator works?" Jack said hopefully.

"With the boost from your rift, it's back to full power" John said cockily, "although it's accuracy is still a bit dodgy"

"Can you get me back" Jack said hopefully, "I'll make it worth your while"

"And what would that be?" John said pulling himself up to full height.

"I'm sure that there is something in the Archives that would be of interest to you" Jack said, "I'd even let you have your pick"

John thought that over, he was sure that Jack had accumulated quite a cache of stuff that he would have liked to get his hands on but there was something more he would like to get his hands on, "Really, anything?"

"Ummm yeah, yes John anything" Jack said reluctantly, thinking that most of the alien artefacts John could get his hands on anyway travelling about so there was not too much harm done, "once you get me back I'll take you to the Archives and you can have a look around and have your pick"

"Oh I don't need to have a look around, I know exactly what I want"

"And what would that be?" thinking when would he have had the chance to see what was in the Archives.

"Oh about 6 foot tall, blue eyes, cute nose, gorgeous bum, and lips so kissable" John said drooling, "and let's not forget that Welsh accent"

Jack's eyes turned dark with anger and fear for Ianto, "NO, no way, he is not part of the deal"

"Oh well enjoy living through this time line…again" and with that statement John quickly stepped back from Jack and pressed a button on his wrist strap and disappeared.

_A/N: Yeah I know John is a bastard but I love working with him. _


	9. Chapter 9

Time Intertwined

_A/N: Sorry that I didn't post in my usual style (that is daily) but I was out all day Saturday and I didn't receive any reviews for the last chapter so I was unsure if the chapter got uploaded (after checking it did). If you are reading my story please give a review no matter how small, it makes me want to post more chapters, unless I can't be half arsed to post more. _

Chapter 9

Over the next two days Marcus and Jack even though they were in the same hotel, didn't spot each other, their movements and objectives different. During those two days Marcus re-acquainted himself with the country town from thirty five years ago, revelling in the old fashioned values. Luckily for him back in this time people were more accepting of strangers, not like in 2010, when people would be wary of strangers snooping in their town. Each night Marcus fell asleep dreaming of seeing his daughter again alive and well, saving her and correcting the mistake that he and his dad made those many years ago.

Jack had a similar experience, enjoying the hospitality of yesteryear but being mindful not to change the timelines. His thoughts each night were of Ianto, how he missed him, and hoped him wasn't missing him or worst doing something stupid to get himself back in time to where Jack was. His thoughts drifted to John, thinking that he might have gone forward to 2010 when Jack wasn't there to get to Ianto, well he would have to get back at much the same time as when he first was snatched, how he was going to do that he didn't know but he would find a way.

On the third day Marcus was walking down the narrow stairs of the hotel only to see Jack sitting in the lounge area. Jack being unable to sleep, his thoughts and anguish over Ianto preventing peaceful sleep so he just gave up and decided to sit staring at the burning embers of the fire in the fire place thinking of his options.

"Oh…um" Marcus mumbled as he made out to run off.

"Marcus" Jack said gently so as not to alarm Marcus, "I'm not going to stop you, you're here now, our problem is how we get back"

"After I rescue my daughter. You have a wrist thingy" Marcus said confidently, "like John"

"I'm afraid my vortex manipulator is not workable" Jack said, "not like John's"

"But I saw you use it to control the doors in the underground headquarters of your organisation"

"But not to travel back in time or forward for that matter, it has limited use" Jack said, "actually John was only able to travel through time with the power of rift. I'm sorry Marcus, there is no way back"

"Couldn't we go back to the rift?" John asked with the innocence of a child.

"And what, try to convince the Torchwood of this time that we need to go back to 2010" Jack said out loud but wondered silentily if he could gain entry into Torchwood as he didn't start to work at the Cardiff branch of Torchwood until twenty years later or so.

"When my dad and I go back to the girl…my daughter" Marcus gulped, "she wasn't not there, maybe she is transported back to her proper time"

"Yes, of course, she was found in her correct timeline" Jack said but thought _dead_, he didn't say dead, he didn't want to alarm Marcus.

"Then couldn't we be in that same place when she is sent forward in time and we would be transport too" Marcus said hopefully.

"Mmmm, it's a possibility" Jack said thoughtfully, thinking that may be a definite possibility as the rift could have randomly picked her up and then just as randomly deposited her back hence why they found her dead, in her timeline. Now that Jack thought about it more systematically, strange as it was, it was very feasible for the rift . People were taken by the rift all the time but they usually were deposited after drifting in time and space and always damaged by the experience as Flat Holm island could testify to. But it seemed that Marcus's daughter was transported only in time, backwards in time, then her dead body taken back to her time line, almost like closing the loop. Strange, Jack thought, very strange, but strange is what he loved dealing with best, he just wished that Ianto was here with him, helping him to solve it.

He just needed not to change the time lines; the Doctor told him many times that the time lines shouldn't be changed. He thought that Marcus's future daughter shouldn't have been in this time line so this murder in this time period shouldn't have happened.

Later that day they made their way to the bush track and tried to work out a plan to prevent the girl's murder. Marcus was glad of the help and company and Jack was glad to be able to talk to someone who had lived in 2010 so he could run some ideas of how they would get back. They also paired with Bryn and his mates playing darts at the local pub during the evening and enjoying more of the homemade meals.

XXXXXXXX

On the faithful day after eating breakfast Jack and Marcus walked to the Radyr Wood to the familiar bush track where Marcus said his father and he would cycle. Jack explained that they needed to be mindful of not meeting up with his younger self, explaining that he couldn't allow himself from the now and the past to meet. Marcus led Jack to the part of the track where he remembered he and his father saw the girl running towards them. He remembered it clearly as this part of the track curved as the visibility of track further on was not clear, the main reason why the man who killed his future daughter went undetected by them when the girl came running towards them. From this point on, he walked in the direction of where the girl was running from so he could stop the man from getting close to the girl.

Armed with a kitchen knife Marcus and Jack hid in the undergrowth, and tried to get comfortable and kept a watchful eye on the track knowing that they had just under two hours before the younger Marcus and his father would cycle down this way. Jack reminded Marcus not to say anything to the girl that he was her father, just someone rescuing her and to get her to the spot where she was found, dead, in the future, only this time she will be alive and they will hitch a lift on the rift.

Jack wished he had his gun, his trusty Webley but when he was swished to this time he was only wearing his trousers and shirt that he hastily put on when he heard Ianto over the comms as he raced out of the bedroom.

An hour and twenty minutes later at short distance from the hidden pair, a familiar blue swirl of light appeared and out tumbled a girl. Marcus whispered that this was the same girl that he, as a boy saw thirty five years ago; she was wearing the same black running shorts and pink t-shirt. Almost at the same instance a man tumbled out as the blue swirl of light closed. Gaining the advantage she kicked out at the man, her foot connecting sharply with his groin. The man yelled out in pain falling to the side, his legs raised to his chest and his hands between his legs. The girl ran off in the direction that Marcus knew was where he and his father were cycling.

The man tried to stand several times but his legs kept on buckling out from under him as the pain in his groin overtook him. Groaning in pain the man again unsteadily got up and staggered in the direction where the girl ran off to. Marcus, stunned as the events quickly played out in front of him, stood up at the same moment as the man staggered up, Jack following him. Full of adrenalin and knowing that he needed to act now, Marcus leapt onto the man, dragging him to the ground, momentarily stunning him. Marcus fell to the side and his eyes stared down the path where the girl ran down to see that she had run father off down the track, enough not to be seen from where they were. "Jack is she safe?" Marcus asked frantically of Jack as he too looked down the track knowing that where the girl was running to was their way home, back to 2010, back to Ianto.

The attacker quickly realises that the man who jumped him was distracted and looking down the track and not paying him any more attention and in a quick motion pulled out a large knife and plunged it into Marcus and pushed him away. Jack momentarily undecided whether to tangle with the man who stabbed Marcus or to follow the girl. If he was to follow the girl to where the next rift spike would occur that would take her back to 2010 then he would get the chance to return back to 2010. But Jack doesn't get to make that decision as the attacker propels himself at Jack with the knife held high.

_A/N: I love reviews they make me smile, as well as letting me know if you are enjoying what I am doing is good for you._


	10. Chapter 10

Time Intertwined

Chapter 10

The attacker and Jack roll together several times disturbing the growth of the young saplings on the edge of the bush track, each one avoiding the knife held in each other's hand. Marcus gingerly stands up holding onto his side, his blood spilling out freely, waiting for an opportunity to deflect the knife held in the attacker's hand. He notices a large rock, picks it up with both hands, noticing its heavy weight or was that he was getting weaker due to blood loss.

Jack and the girl's attacker pull away, each trying to gain a better leverage to stop the other person gaining the advantage. Marcus uses this break in their struggle and raises the large rock above his head and as Jack pulls away further from the attacker, Marcus brings down the rock onto the attacker's head. The man slumps to the side, the gash to his head evidence that he would not be getting up again, ever.

Jack and Marcus look at each other knowing that for the time being that they were successful in stopping the attacker but now they needed to get to the rift spike as quickly as possible. Without a second thought to cover and check on the attacker Jack and Marcus run down the track. As Marcus clutches his side, his blood oozing freely staining the dirt track begins to slow down with each step and starts to sway. Jack conscience that Marcus is not running besides him glances behind him to see Marcus stumble and fall. Marcus looks up at Jack and again pulls himself to standing and attempts to put one foot in front of another but it is obvious that Marcus is slowly losing the battle to stand let alone walk or run. Jack glances further down the track in the direction where the girl went, where the rift spike was expected to occur. In his sub-conscience Jack knows that the Jack from the past would have left Marcus for dead but not the Jack from now, the Jack that has changed for the better. Jack quickly back tracked to Marcus and lifting him up, placing his arm over his shoulders and looping his arm around his waist, Jack half carried Marcus in the direction of the rift spike. After a few steps he sees a young boy and an older man as they race each other on their bikes, Jack supposes it is the young Marcus and his dad, so Jack pushes the older Marcus into the undergrowth before they see them.

As they pass Jack quickly pulls Marcus up again and they continue down the track, Jack noticing that Marcus has become a heavy weight in his arms and that his legs are now dragging in the dirt as Jack propels him along. Rounding the curve of the track Jack spots the girl and the familiar blue swirl as it snatches her away. Jack quickens his pace to reach the closing rife spike but he is too late, the blue swirl dies away as he steps into the space where the blue light causes the soil to whirlpool and churn, then settle.

Jack falls into a crumbed heap near the disturbed earth taking Marcus to the ground with him, sorrow filling him, knowing that was his last chance to get back to 2010, to Ianto. Jack turns to Marcus to gauge his reaction to the closing rift. Marcus's eyes are staring unseeing to the blue sky, his chest still and his trousers are covered in blood. Jack reaches over to his neck feeling for a pulse, there is none.

XXXXXXXXX

The next several hours pass with ambulances to take away the dead, police interviews, and Jack explaining that he is Torchwood and to let them handle this case. On the second day of questioning the police reluctantly release the case and Jack to Alex Hopkins, Torchwood Three leader in Cardiff. Jack also convinces them to hand over the two dead bodies to be stored at Torchwood Cardiff.

Jack explains as much as he can to Alex clarifying that most of what he will tell him , he must not reveal to anyone. Jack thinks of his options, either re-live the next thirty five years avoiding himself, which would be hard from the late 1990s as he was based in Wales with Torchwood Cardiff knowing what Alex will do on New Years Eve 1999, or freeze himself in the morgue vaults for thirty five years.

After working out that he can reproduce the retcon in the lab, thankfully he was paying attention when Owen was explaining the composition of retcon, maybe he knew at some stage he would need to know how to make it up, he thought he would reveal all to Alex. Telling Alex about his immortality needed some convincing and several deaths, much to Jack's discomfort mainly because he had gotten used to reviving in Ianto's arms, Ianto telling him he was there for him and the sex afterwards with Ianto was always so much more explosive. But being here trying to prove to Alex that he would survive the freezing process was distressing and Jack just wanted to get back to 2010.

XXXXXXXX

"Okay, so Alex you got it? So after you close the lid, you set the time lock to 3:00 October the 12th 2010."

"Yes, yes, I said I got it" Alex said exasperated after Jack had told him several times that Alex needed to set the time lock after he has closed the lid.

"Sorry, just want to make sure" Jack apologised hearing the frustration in Alex's voice.

"And your team will be there waiting for you?"

"Well, no he won't be expecting that" Jack thought aloud, "okay let's have a celebratory drink"

Jack handed Alex a glass that was infused with retcon, which Alex down quickly, after the afternoon with Jack telling him about his immortality, the two dead bodies in his vaults that the police delivered, the rift dumping Jack here, he was glad for the alcohol to sooth his nerves after revelations he had heard. Jack shook Alex's hand firmly then he climbed into open morgue vault. With a reassuring nod to Alex, the lid was closed. Jack could see the sleepy look in Alex's eyes already as he mouthed 'time lock'. Alex nodded his head slowly.

Alex yawned as he spun the dial on the time lock especially fitted to the vault that Jack had climbed in. Three pm October 12th in the year 2010. Giving the thumbs up to Jack, Alex could see the glass had already begun to ice up and Jack appeared to be asleep already. Pushing the button that would slide the vault into place Alex felt very sleepy himself, he didn't think this strange after the day that he endured since Jack arrived on his doorstep with the police and two dead bodies, he supposed it had finally caught all up on him. Climbing the steps up to the main part of the Hub he decided to sleep on the couch rather than head home.

XXXXXXXXX

_A/N: I had an ending here with Jack returning to the Hub at 3pm and everyone distressed especially Ianto thinking that Jack would not come back but then I thought of that threat that John made back in 1975 so I've decided to add more ….as these stories tend to do, it ran away from me. _


	11. Chapter 11

Time Intertwined

Chapter 11

Tosh walked into the Hub 20 minutes after Ianto rang her asking for help after John took Jack, Tosh called out to Ianto.

"Ianto, IANTO!" Tosh looked around, thinking that Ianto must be down in the Archives, wondering why he would be there, as he sounded quite distressed, the Archives weren't going to give him the answers he needed if John took Jack. Tosh tapped her comms to alert Ianto she was here but there was no answer, if she wasn't worried before now, she was hyper- worried now. Ianto's call to come to the Hub in the early hours of the morning sounded serious, anything involving John was always a concern, especially with what Ianto said that Jack being taken by John and now Ianto has disappeared. She checked the heat signatures on the scanner just in case Ianto was in the Hub but unable to respond. Nothing, she noted, all the weevils, and pterodactyl heat signatures were accounted for as well as her own, no other signs of another living body. Oh no, Tosh thought what if Ianto was dead, what if John hurt Ianto when he taken Jack and Ianto died after he called Tosh, okay get a grip, Tosh thought, check the CCTV.

Walking over to the computer she noticed that one of the chairs was knocked over, she righted it and set herself in front of the computer to view the CCTV as she called Owen and Gwen. Owen was sleepy but became fully alert as soon as he heard Tosh's voice and mention of John, Gwen said reluctantly she would come in, saying something to the effect that Ianto and Jack are probably off somewhere nice or even at Ianto's place, until Tosh repeated that John had been here, then she was more enthused saying that she would be there as soon as possible. Tosh breathed a sigh of relief, she felt that she wasn't being overly dramatic, as this did not seem right, none of it did.

Opening the file for the CCTV she wished that she had a cup of Ianto's marvellous coffee or hot chocolate, what was it that Ianto did to hot beverages but it was almost addictive.

XXXXXXXX

Earlier

Sitting at the computer terminal connected to the rift manipulator Ianto saw a familiar blue flash of light, he turned happily expecting to see Jack swanning out of the blue swirl, but John stepped out instead. Ianto stood up, knocking over the chair that he was sitting in as he took a step back.

"Hello eye candy" John said eyeing Ianto up and down.

"Where is Jack?" Ianto said angrily.

XXXXXXXX

Tosh was still looking at the CCTV when she heard the cog door alarm as Owen walked in and he quickly went to Tosh's side upon sighting her hunched figure staring intently at the computer screen. He wanted to give her a kiss, they had shared a few kisses recently as they stepped up their relationship but it was always away from work but seeing her distress here at work he wanted to show her his support but he settled for placing his hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.

Tosh looked up and shook her head slightly at the enormity of what she had seen so far on the CCTV, "John was here, he's taken Jack using the his vortex manipulator, you know the same one that is on Jack's wrist, only his works, and what it looks like that he was using our rift manipulator for a boost in power" Tosh's words tumbled out, almost crying. Owen held out his arms as invitation for her to reach out and took his hands, when he held her hands Owen gently lifted her to standing, giving her a hug.

"Slow down Tosh" Owen said gently, "we'll work it out. And Ianto?"

"No he wasn't taken with Jack"

"But you said he wasn't here?"

"Yeah that's the puzzle, he's not here" Tosh said confused, "but there's more"

Owen waited for Tosh to continue but when she didn't , he questioned her "Yes?"

"Marcus went with them" Tosh said shaking her head, her hair tumbling about her face.

"WHAT!"

"Here look at the CCTV" Tosh wound back the CCTV "see here, Ianto is still here as Marcus jumps at John and Jack"

"Bastard, John handcuffed himself to Jack" Owen said with disgust.

The two of them watched further as Ianto desperately lunged at the blue swirling light trying desperately to reach Jack, when Gwen sauntered into the Hub, "Okay what's this about Jack and John"

Tosh stopped the CCTV to explain to Gwen what she and Owen had seen on the Hub CCTV so far.

"But how, Jack's wrist thingy doesn't work"

"Well we knew that John's did and it seems that it needed a boost and John got it and took Jack along with him" Tosh said, tired of having to explain it again.

"Why was Marcus here, we don't know, but at that point Ianto was still here at the Hub, but now he too has disappeared." Owen said, "okay lets watch the rest"

All three huddled around the terminal watching the CCTV to see Ianto desperately reach out as Jack, John and Marcus disappear into the blue swirl of light. Then Ianto walks over to the computer connected to the rift manipulator,after a short while he is seen using his mobile phone. _'He was calling me I suppose at this point'_ Tosh said. Next Ianto is seen going back to the computer screen, he sits there tapping away at the keyboard until a blue swirl of light is seen off to Ianto's right, Ianto turns around, John steps out of the blue light, they exchange a few words then Ianto is grabbed by John and they both disappear into the closing blue swirl.

"Oh no!"

"Fuck"

"What the hell"

They exclaimed simultaneously.

XXXXXXXX

"I said where is Jack?" Ianto demanded, looking around, "where are we?"

"Now, now, calm down eye candy" John soothed.

"I will not calm down, and stop calling me 'eye candy'" Ianto commanded.

"Okay, Ianto" John said slowly, "Jack is otherwise pre-occupied"

"And so?" Ianto said puzzled, "why did you bring me here?"

"I thought I'd show you some of the wonders of the universe"

"Why?"

"Why not?" John said hopefully.

Ianto looked at him hesitatively, thinking it would be interesting to see some things from the universe.

XXXXXXXX

Owen, Tosh and Gwen spent the next four hours trying to work out where Jack and Ianto had been whisked to, they assumed that Ianto was taken to the same place and time and what did Marcus have to do with all this. At 8am all hell broke loose with 3 weevil sightings, this kept Owen and Gwen busy all morning, as they captured the first one, Tosh alerted them to two more in the park, they were able to drop these two off into the sewers when Tosh bussed them again to tell them of one more sighting in the mall.

Returning at 1pm, they brought lunch back to the Hub, stopping by the fish and chip shop, insisting Tosh stop and eat something while it was hot. Finishing lunch, Tosh thanked them as she didn't realise she was hungry until she started to eat, "I could really go a coffee, Ianto's coffee" Tosh said sadly.

"As soon as he gets back he better make us all a coffee, he owes us" Owen said trying to alleviate the tension, "so what have you got so far Tosh?"

Tosh filled them in with what she found which wasn't much, "Well it seems that the computer connected to the rift manipulator has had all its entries coded to October 1975" Tosh said.

"That is the roundabout date of when Marcus's daughter was killed, and the year is when he and his father found the girl that he reckons was his daughter from the future" Gwen said recalling what Marcus said a few weeks ago, when he broke in and nearly killed Ianto trying to use the rift manipulator to go to 1975 to fix the mistake.

"Yeah, well that explains why Marcus was here, he was obviously trying again to get back to that time" Owen said.

"Damn, I knew we should have retconned him" Gwen said infuriated.

"If Jack is caught in 1975 and his wrist vortex manipulator doesn't work like John's surely he would have waited it out and he would have returned by now" Owen said

"Unless….." Tosh was too afraid to say what she was thinking, that Jack wasn't returning.

"Maybe he and Ianto are together but why would John take Ianto back to where Jack was" Gwen said puzzled.

"Either way Jack or even Ianto would have left a message somehow for us to discover in this time to explain" Owen said getting a little angry that neither of their work mates have given them any thought, "have you looked for any messages Tosh?"

"No, but that's a good thought. I'll look for any electronic messages, that's the type of thing that Ianto would have done if he was able to do so" Tosh took off back to her computer, forgetting about the mess left behind, normally Ianto would have cleaned up after everyone.

"Well I'm going to check on the weevils that we brought in" Owen announced, leaving Gwen standing there stunned looking at the lunch time mess.

Gwen looked around but there was no one else, sighing she began to clean up the mess and in a moment of niceness decided to attempt to make some coffee for everyone.

XXXXXXX

"Okay eye c…..Ianto" John began, "where would you like to go to first?"

"Hmmm, Radyr Woods, Wales, 1975" Ianto said without hesitation.

"Nice try eye candy, now play nice" John said stepping into Ianto's personal space.

"You take Jack away without asking, then you take me as well without asking and I'm supposed to play nice?" Ianto said incredulously.

John placed his hands on Ianto's chest, "Just enjoy the moment then we'll go back and no-one would even miss you" Ianto stepped back, his back pressed up against the wall behind him.

"I don't want to enjoy the moment" Ianto tried to stay calm, "with you"

John pressed his body against Ianto stopping him from moving, "Let me show you what fun you can have with me" John crushed his lips onto Ianto's lips.

_A/N: reviews please, I love them, tell me if you love it, tell me if you hate it, hey review even if you are just passing the time. _


	12. Chapter 12

Time Intertwined 

_A/N: Sorry for the delay in posting this chapter, I know I promised to post a chapter each day, but real life got in the way (and sometimes it's a struggle to keep your head above the shit that life throws at you, there are days when you just want to lie there and pretend it's all an illusion) anyway only a couple of chapters left to go. _

Chapter 12

A couple of hours later Owen and Gwen went up to Tosh who filled them in saying that she was not able to find any messages.

"Well what are we going to do?" Gwen whined.

"I don't know, try to use the rift to get to 1975" Tosh said shrugging her shoulders.

"But Tosh you can't, when Owen did it last time to get you and Jack back from 1941 the rift splintered and let in many strange people from many different time periods, not to mention Abaddon. We can't do that again, especially if Jack is not here to help us to defeat any alien threats that will come through" Gwen continued to whine, her fear overtaking her senses. Owen looked at her with concern thinking that she was not coping with the problems of the Torchwood adequately.

"Gwen I know, I know" Tosh said sadly, "I have to try, if I get the right equation or combination of equations I could open it long enough to let only Jack come through"

"Oh Tosh you know Jack would not allow you to do that" Gwen said unbelieving that Tosh would attempt to open up the rift again.

Tosh sighed deeply, "I've got to do something, you never know I might be able to. It did work, not that many hours ago"

"Yeah but that was with John's workable wrist thingy" Gwen said understanding that Tosh was not thinking sensibly, her feeling of helplessness at not getting the rift Manipulator to work or divulge information she needed was causing her to make some bad decisions.

"Owen, can you remember what you did that time when you opened the rift to get Jack and me back?" Tosh asked Owen.

"Well your equations that you left in the tin back in 1941 helped greatly" Owen said staring admirably at Tosh, "that and having a gun pointed at me sorted of spurred me on to put that piece in, which is still there but I can't remember what I actually did, sorry" Owen said shrugging his shoulders, he hated to bring up the time when Ianto shot him, he knew that Ianto was trying to stop him from making a huge mistake but he couldn't really remember what he did, the shock of being shot and that Ianto actually shot him was his main memory of that day.

Tosh looked at Owen understanding, "Okay, I'm not going to rush it, working out the exact equations will take some time, I won't risk rift splinters leaking into different time periods again, okay" Tosh said trying to reassure her friends.

"Here's a thought, the rift takes people away randomly all the time" Gwen said, "why couldn't it bring people back in much the same place but years later?"

"What are you saying Gwen? Do you reckon that we should head out to the Radyr Woods and look for Jack there. You think that Jack would have tried to return back by the rift energy when the dead girl is returned back to her time?" Owen queried.

Gwen shrugged her shoulders, her eyes misty and sad, scared that Jack would try that, knowing that the rift was unpredictable, Jack could end up anywhere, any when.

"Gwen if that was the case, Jack would have returned by now" Owen said softly as if speaking to a child who doesn't understand.

"Yeah, yes I suppose you're right" Gwen said anxiously.

THUMP THUMP THUMP

They all looked at each other, wondering what the noise was and where it was coming from.

THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP, the thumping persisted.

"What would be making that noise down there?" Gwen asked.

"Nothing that I can think of, there's only the vaults with the frozen bodies and the basement where Ianto kept the cyberman" Owen said, regretting it as soon as he said it, as girls looked awkward and tried not to think back to that awful day.

They all drew their guns, and made their way down to where they could still hear the thumping.

"It seems to be coming from the morgue?" Tosh said.

They all looked at each other, all thinking the same thing, could it be, could Jack have thought to freeze himself till now, but then why at this time, why not earlier.

THUMP THUMP THUMP

Rounding the corner and down the next lot of stairs, silence, no more thumping.

"Wait!" Owen whispered, his gun still held in front, "the noise has stopped"

They all stood deadly still, ears straining to hear more thumping. A scuffling noise could be heard instead.

"Maybe it's not coming from the morgue" Gwen offered, "what else is down here?"

"The Archives" Owen and Tosh said in unison, they both changed direction and headed towards the Archives. Their guns held ready if need be, Tosh remained at the door of the Archives while Owen entered the familiar antechamber. The scuffling continued, Owen and Gwen followed the noise into one of the aisle while Tosh held the back-up position.

"Jack!" Gwen yelled out in happiness as she ran into his arms. Hearing Gwen call out Jack's name Tosh came running over to give Jack a hug as well.

Owen cleared his throat, waiting for the girls to finish hugging and squeezing the life out of Jack, if that is possible, slapped Jack on the shoulder, "What took you so long?"

"I told that fool 3 o'clock but it seems he coded it in as 3 in the afternoon, not 3 o'clock in the morning" Jack chuckled, shaking his head, "hey where's Ianto?"

XXXXXXXX

Ianto pushed John away forcefully "Get off me"

"Oh come on, lets have a bit of fun"

"With you, you have got to be kidding?" Ianto asked incredulously.

"Fine, you'll come around" John backed off a little but not enough for Ianto to move pass him without brushing pass him.

"I don't think so, take me back" Ianto said, "NOW"

"No can do eye candy" John said boldly

"And why not" Ianto said, getting tired of this conversation with John.

"Because I want a bit of a holiday and I picked you to have it with" John said.

"What!?" Ianto said not quite believing his ears, did this guy have no moral compass.

"So like I said before, where would you like to go, there's a timeline that has your pick of sexual partners" John said enthusiastically, "it's all free love, eye candy"

"I…..told…..you….don't….call…me…that" Ianto said punctuating each word with a shove moving John away.

"Okay okay no more 'eye candy' just the candy" John said salaciously, "you've gotta taste good for Jack to want you all to himself for so long"

John closed the space between them with determination in his eyes.

XXXXXXXX

Sitting down in the board room Tosh, Owen and Gwen told Jack that they saw on the CCTV that he was handcuffed and taken by John.

"What happened with you and John? Why was Marcus here? Where did you go?" Gwen bombarded him with questions, "How did you managed to get to be in the morgue to get back here now?"

Jack wanted to know where was Ianto but he knew if he didn't answer these questions he wouldn't be able to get straight answers to his question so he explained what happened with Marcus, being in 1975, and getting in contact with Alex, putting Marcus and the killer's bodies in the morgue, having Alex put a time-lock for 3 o'clock but he told him three in the morning not three in the afternoon.

"But why the thumping if you could get out?" Gwen asked.

"Brain freeze?" Jack said sheepishly, "I forgot that my wrist manipulator could open the vault, I woke up in a daze"

"Remind me to examine you later" Owen said shaking his head, pursing his lips.

"So where is Ianto?" Jack asked patiently, but his mind was working overtime.

"We don't know. We thought he was with you in 1975" Tosh said quietly.

"Why would you think that?" Jack queried, "you said you saw the CCTV of Marcus and me being taken with John, Ianto wasn't taken"

"After you were taken the CCTV showed John here again" Gwen said guardedly.

"Ah… hmmm….and?" Jack said pursing his lips afraid of what they would say next.

"None of us were here, only Ianto" Gwen apologetically gushed, not wanting to upset Jack too much, "we were all at home as you and Ianto were at the Hub"

"Ianto rung me after you were taken, he was a little stressed, he asked me to come in" Tosh said.

"Aaaand…." Jack said getting impatient.

"Well after he rang me about 10 minutes later we see on the CCTV John appears, he and Ianto say a few words and then John takes Ianto using his wrist thingy" Tosh explained.

"Show me" Jack gritting his teeth.

After viewing the CCTV, Jack went quiet, thinking about the threat John made, at the time Jack just thought that John was making an idle threat but now he didn't think it was so idle, now that Ianto was seen to be taken by John just after 3am, it would have been easy for John to go back to just after the three of them were swept to 1975.

"Jack!" Gwen said in frustration when he didn't say anything for some time, "if you know something please tell us"

Jack went on to explain his encounter with John and his threat back in 1975.

"Crap"

"Oh Ianto"

"So we're lost Ianto"

The others exclaimed in unison.

_A/N: Hello, is anyone out there? I don't know if anyone is reading this story, as I am only getting 1 or 2 reviews, if you are reading please find some time in your busy lives and review, it's very crushing to get no response. _


	13. Chapter 13

Time Intertwined

Chapter 13

As John closed the space between them Ianto steeled himself pulling his arm back and slamming it into John's face as hard as he could.

John stumbled back a step, smirked and dabbing with his thumb at the blood from the cut lip caused by Ianto's right hook, "Oh you like it rough, I can do rough" John said amused, licking his thumb savouring the taste of his blood, "but first I want to fuck you"

"Well that would be raping me, cos I don't want to be fucked by you" Ianto said determinately.

These words must have struck a note with John, as he stopped and looked at Ianto carefully, "Yeah you got me there" John for all his faults; alcohol, drugs, murder and sex, although murder was only for those that deserved it, did not condone rape. So if he was to have Ianto he would need to change tactics with Ianto, he didn't want to possess him, but he did want to have a crack of what Jack had, he remembered Jack and him used to share all the time, he was sure that Jack would understand.

Straightening his clothes John stepped back and looked at Ianto with admiration, "Okay we will do it your way"

"So you'll take me back to Jack?" Ianto asked eagerly.

"Yeah sure" John said lewdly "in time"

"Hfmmm" Ianto huffed.

XXXXXXXX

"Jack we've got to do something, we have got to get Ianto back" Tosh exclaimed with fear in her voice.

"I know, I know, but there's nothing I can do" Jack said despondently.

"What do you mean, there's nothing you can do?" Gwen said hysterically.

"My vortex manipulator doesn't work that way, and besides I have no idea where or when John took Ianto" Jack said with no emotion.

"You bastard Jack, so that's it, is it?" Owen said "one of us is taken and you do nothing, and….and this is Ianto"

"You had your fun with him, is this your way of getting rid of us when we have no more use to you" Tosh said sadly.

Jack wasn't listening to his team, as his own mind was screaming internally, of all his lovers, Ianto was the one he couldn't bare to lose, couldn't bare to live without, couldn't bare to watch die, but Ianto hasn't died, he is still alive but unreachable, all because The Doctor decided that Jack shouldn't have a workable Vortex Manipulator. His mind screamed at the injustice, how many times does he have to prove himself, he is not the same person that The Doctor met so many years ago. And now after being taken to 1975, having to freeze himself as he didn't want to relive the 70's, 80's and 90's again without Ianto and now Ianto is taken from him, by John no less, he could feel his heart breaking, he didn't know how much more he could take.

"Jack….Jack…are you even listening to us" Gwen screamed in Jack's face, "what are you thinking about, your next sexual conquest?"

"What?" Jack broke his reverie, "I WANT IANTO BACK MUCH MORE THAN YOU THINK, WE WERE GOING TO BE MARRIED"

Owen looked shocked, Gwen had a stunned look on her face, her eyes bigger than normal and Tosh looked happy and surprised at the same time.

XXXXXXXX

"So where are we?" Ianto said thinking he may as well find out where he was so he could work his way back to Jack.

"Ahh a lovely little planet out pass Alpha Centuri, still in this sector of your Milky Way" John said enthusiastically, "we're here in time for the festival "

"And what festival would that be?" Ianto queried, getting worried that he may be here for a while, as there was no way back without John.

"Oh you'll love it, it's a bit like your Gay Pride parade, only better"

"Never been to one" Ianto lied, he went with a friend back in his uni days, not for himself but his friend was gay, and Ianto wanted to support her, he hated all the flamboyance and tackiness. But it was here that Ianto found out that he was attracted to both men and women equally as he couldn't keep his eyes off the men who showed off their bodies to their beautiful best.

"Then you're in for a treat" John danced around merrily.

"Oh God" Ianto said rolling his eyes.

"Oh **he** definitely will not be here, actually he's a concept that became out-dated by the 26th Century" John said eloquently.

"Fabulous" Ianto replied sarcastically.

XXXXXXXX

Jack stormed up into his office, he needed to be alone, well he didn't want to be alone, he wanted to be with Ianto, only Ianto.

Gwen and Tosh looked up at the retreating Jack in wonderment, they didn't think that Jack and Ianto's relationship was that strong, that solid that they were considering marriage, no not considering marriage, they were going to be married, that's what Jack said.

"Shit" Owen said, "well I didn't see that coming"

Jack sat heavily at his desk, his head in his hands. His fingers traced his wrist strap, willing it to work when he heard a soft knock at the door, "Jack? Jack, can I come in?" Tosh said quietly behind the door.

"Yeah sure Tosh" Jack said wiping away the tears on the precipice of falling.

"Jack we're sorry, we didn't mean to say those things" Tosh said apologetically.

"Well, you did, and the old Jack would have deserved them" Jack said, "but Ianto is different, he is the one for me, the one that people talk about when they talk about their soul mate, he is my soul mate"

"Oh Jack I'm really sorry" Tosh said genuinely sorry for their mistaking Jack's non-commitment to worry about getting Ianto back.

"It's only being five days, not counting the thirty five years being frozen, but I miss him terribly" Jack said, _'and the year thinking of him every day on the Valient'_ he thought

"Of course you do" Tosh said, "we're going to find a way to get him back" she said resolutely.

"Tosh, this thing doesn't work" Jack said exhaustedly, "not to go through time, only to open doors and such, fat lot of good that does me"

"Jack this doctor you talk of, the one you said couldn't fix you when you came back?" Tosh said hopefully, "can he help, could he do something?"

Jack thought about that, he got the feeling from the Doctor that he would rather not see Jack again, but surely with what they went through on the Valiant, The Doctor could do a little thing for him, "I'm going to make a phone call, there may be someone who can help"

"And I'm going to check the rift signatures, see if John's vortex manipulator left some indication as to where or when he went to" Tosh said hopefully.

"Tosh?...thanks" Jack said with admiration in his smile.

Jack climbed down the ladder to his bedroom and picked up his mobile that was left there from when he ran out in a rush when Ianto called out to Jack, in what seemed a long time ago. Looking up the number he began to believe that he would see Ianto again, "Martha, hi, it's Jack, can you do me a favour?"

XXXXXXX

Stumbling back from the festival which went on for the better part of the day and into the night till the sun came up again John and Ianto walked the short distance to the apartment that they were staying in. Ianto was intoxicated on the local drink, he thought he was sampling the local fruit juice but apparently it has alcoholic properties that wasn't divulged when Ianto asked what it was. John held Ianto up as he was having trouble standing and putting one foot in front of the other.

"Come on lover boy, just a few more steps" John said, trying to be helpful.

"Don't want to walk anymore" Ianto pouted.

"Just a few more steps" John smiled, he didn't think that this man, this eye candy could get any more sexy but a boozed up Ianto certainly did.

"Want my bed" Ianto pouted again.

"Soon, very soon" John soothed, getting restless himself for the night to really begin with this man in his bed.

And soon enough they had reached the apartment, John helping Ianto over the threshold and towards the bedroom. John leered at Ianto savouring the site of him sprawled on the bed. He started to unbutton Ianto's shirt, his hands roaming over the milky white flesh of his chest, his fingers pulling at the chest hairs eliciting a moan from the prone man.

John lowered his mouth to kiss the creamy skin beneath him, the moaning became more vocal, the body arched and squirmed, pushing his groin into the body above him. _'Mmmm that's more like it'_ John thought. He moved his hands to undo the belt buckle, appreciating the muscular lean body of the now willing Ianto. _'A little alcohol always helps release the inhibitions'_ John thought as he made his way up to kiss the luscious lips of Ianto.

_A/N: Oh no, damn alcohol, Ianto would never do this, and with John, no way, it's the alcohol._


	14. Chapter 14

Time Intertwined

Chapter 14

"Okay Jack" Martha said, "I spoke to The Doctor, he has agreed to help you but only this time because of what you went through on the Valiant"

"Great, thanks Martha" Jack said full of hope, "when is he coming to collect me?"

"He isn't" Martha said almost reluctantly, "he will get Ianto himself and return him"

"What? No, I need to have a few words to John" Jack said angrily.

"Jack" Martha said hesitatively, "that's why The Doctor says you're not going, it's your anger especially with people who have done injustices to you"

"What! I'm not that person any more" Jack said then when he realised he was yelling, lowered his voice, "look Martha I know I used to be an malicious person to be around when I was conning my way around the universe, but I've changed, Ianto has changed me for the better"

"And that is why The Doctor is helping you, he knows how much you love him" Martha said gently, "on the Valiant apparently it became known that was what got you through, getting to see Ianto again, apparently when you got the chance to talk to Tish you told her all about Ianto"

Oh" Jack said, trying not to remember his time on the Valiant.

"I'm sorry for bringing that up" Martha said sadly.

"No, that's okay, we who lived through that year will always be able to say whatever we want to each other" Jack said, his voice shaky when he said 'lived' knowing that it was an endless cycle of living and dying was for him, "tell The Doctor thanks"

"Sure"

XXXXXXX

Sensually John kissed and licked up Ianto's chest, savouring his taste, smiling knowing he was going to enjoy making this man moan, knowing that he was Jack's property, if he couldn't have Jack then Jack's lover would do. Working his way up nibbling on Ianto's neck and along his jaw line, John slowing pressed his lips to Ianto's previously pouty lips, Ianto responded eagerly, kissing him back and moaning.

Then suddenly Ianto pulled away abruptly "NO, you are not Jack" and pushed John away from him with such ferocity that John fell to the floor with a thwack to his elbow and back, stunned, he lay on the floor. "I said to you before, I will NEVER let you fuck me" Ianto said his head becoming clearer with the realisation that John had undressed him and was kissing him in his hazy state of inebriation.

"Never?" John said, "I was getting close, give me time"

"You could have all the time in the world, and it would never be enough" Ianto said with a determination that was not going to be swayed.

"But I have all the time in the _universe_" John said shrewdly, as he gingerly pulled himself up onto his un-injured elbow. At that moment a whooshing noise was heard outside their open window John slowly moved his head towards the sound.

Attempting to sit up, Ianto's head spun in an alcohol induced haze, the noise seemed to envelope the room and looking towards the window he could see a bright light pulsating almost like a beacon. In the recesses of his memory he scrambled to remember where he heard this sound before. Some recording he heard filed away in the Archives, but what, he couldn't quite place. Warily he got off from the bed and went to the window where John was standing holding his elbow and staring out and looked at what wasn't there previously, a large blue old style police-box with a flashing light on top.

Abruptly the bedroom door slammed opened and in stepped a tall skinny man in a brown suit with a metal device with a red light circling its tip, held out in his hand as he walked in determinedly, "Ianto Jones?"

"Y…yes" Ianto stammered.

"Hi I'm the Doctor and I've come to take you home Ianto" the Doctor said with a slight smile on his face.

'_The Doctor?...The Doctor!...The Doctor that he read about in the Archives….The Doctor that Jack spoke about…The Doctor who couldn't fix Jack'_ Ianto's mind raced.

John stood to the side not quite believing what was going on, who was this man storming into his bedroom, and why does he thinks he is just going to take Ianto! "Hold on there mate! Ianto is with me, he's not going anywhere"

"I'm not with you" Ianto said unwaveringly to John, and turning to the Doctor, "and I'm not going with you anywhere. Jack has spoken about you, you said he was wrong"

The Doctor sighed, "Ianto….Jack sent me to get you" staring straight at Ianto willing him to believe him.

"Oh crap" John said shaking his head and screwing up his face upon the realisation that Jack probably knows that he took Ianto.

The Doctor looked at John with distaste, "I would make myself scarce if I was you"

"And why would I do that?" John said with a sneer.

"Because I can make your time travelling days over" the Doctor said bringing up his sonic screw driver, "like I did Jack's"

"Yeah yeah, I get it" John said getting up off the floor, grabbing his coat he left without any more complaint.

"Come on Ianto, time to go" The Doctor said addressing Ianto again.

"And why would I do that?" Ianto said, "where's Jack? I'm not going anywhere with you without Jack"

The Doctor sighed, looking at Ianto sadly, "I'm sorry but the TARDIS does not like Jack, Jack sets her off course"

"The….the TARDIS, oh of course your time machine" Ianto said remembering all the things he read about the Doctor and his travelling machine.

"Jack is very upset and is missing you, he asked me to get you back" the Doctor said.

Ianto thought about his options, and quickly decided that yes, The Doctor was his best option, "O…Okay"

The Doctor smiled a genuine smile that you couldn't help feel that he could be trusted, "Come, come" he said as he motioned to leave the bedroom, Ianto smiled back tentatively. Ianto fell in behind the Doctor as he walked outside. The Doctor looked back to check that Ianto was indeed following him and noticed that Ianto was grimacing and swaying a bit as he held his head, "and I can give you something for your head, I see the alcohol here doesn't agree with you"

"You could say that" Ianto said.

Opening the door to the TARDIS the Doctor waved Ianto in, Ianto peered in cautiously. "In, in you go" The Doctor said hurriedly, "time's a-wasting"

Ianto turned to look at the man professing to be a manipulator of time as he made that statement and thought what a strange man but it was obvious that his TARDIS was the real thing, from what Ianto could see the inside was bigger on the inside, which went along the lines of the theory of the stories that abounded about The Doctor and his TARDIS. Ianto made a point not to say anything about it being bigger on the inside than out, as he was sure that The Doctor had heard it many times, as it was obvious, so he casually walked in and asked, "Do you have a shower in here so I can freshen up before I arrived back to my time?"

XXXXXXXX

In the boardroom Jack explained to his team that Ianto would be returned soon by The Doctor.

"Jack?" Gwen said incredulously, "so we what? We wait? Doesn't your Doctor have a time machine, wouldn't he just return Ianto a few minutes past the time from when John took him?"

"Yes Gwen" Jack said exhaustedly, "it doesn't always work that exactly"

"So when do you expect him?" Gwen continued.

Heaving a heavy sigh Jack breathed, "Soon"

"Gwen, why don't we go home, if Jack is confident that Ianto will be coming back, then I for one believe him" Tosh said.

"Come on ladies, I'll walk you down to the car-park" Owen said.

"You go home if you want" Gwen said walking closer to Jack, "I'll keep Jack company"

"NO, no Gwen" Jack said then softening his voice he said "it's fine, go home to Rhys, have some lasagne and wine and I'll see you in the morning"

Just as Gwen was about to protest further, a familiar noise to Jack grew louder down in the main part of the Hub. Jack's eyes lit up, he jumped up and was racing down the stairs to see the familiar blue shimmer of the TARDIS. Jack stopped on the second last step watching the shimmering glow as the TARDIS fully materialised.

The door opened and out stepped Ianto, Jack was on him like a hungry man with his first meal in days, enveloping him in his arms, after a few minutes Jack stepped back, looking intently at Ianto, blue meeting blue, a faint smile on his lips, the rush of relief washing over him as he captured Ianto's lips with his. Ianto poured his gratitude in his return of the kiss, being internally grateful that Jack had asked The Doctor to retrieve him from John, "Missed you, was so scared that I'd never see you again"

"Love you, even if I had to live a thousand lifetimes I was determined to get you back" Jack murmured.

As Jack held onto Ianto staring into his eyes the TARDIS door slammed shut and began to shimmer out, Jack paid it no heed, he had Ianto and that was all that was on his mind. Gwen and Owen stared as it disappeared before their eyes, Tosh rushed off to her computer desperately trying to get a reading, or at least check that the CCTV was on so she could examine the video later for analysis.

"Well that was nice of your doctor to bring Ianto back, but how rude, he didn't even get out" Gwen said in disgust tingled with curiously, she would have liked to see this time machine.

Jack shrugged his shoulders at Gwen, then turned back to Ianto, "Don't care, he did me a favour, and for that I am very grateful"

Ianto smiled, the smile hiding the pain of what he went through the past couple of days and murmured to Jack, "Thank you" and whilst yawning said, "Tell me how you got back"

"That story can wait, I think you need sleep" Jack said, then turning to the rest of the team, "bye everyone, I'm taking Ianto to bed"

"I'm going" Owen said quickly, "come on Tosh… Gwen!" Owen couldn't get out fast enough.

The End

_A/N: There's one more chapter – just an epilogue to wrap things up._


	15. Chapter 15

Time Intertwined

Epilogue

The next day the team convened in the board room, all happy to be drinking Ianto's coffee again.

"So what happened back in 1975 with John and Marcus?" Ianto asked Jack tentatively. He didn't get around to asking again last night, the night before was spent in the more physical and loving pursuits and then he fell in a comforting sleep in Jack's arms, waking just before the team arrived.

Jack went on to explain again in detail the five days that he spent in 1975, his encounter with John, the deal he made with him.

"You what? You were going to let him have his pick of what was in the Archives?" Ianto asked incredulously.

"W..e..ll….I wanted to get back to you" Jack said sheepishly.

"But the archives, anything in the archives?" Ianto said his voice a little higher pitch than usual, then lowering his voice, "we'll talk later" staring directly at Jack who looked a little scared.

Reaching to help himself to another biscuit Jack continued with his recount of what happened with Marcus and how he died trying to get his daughter to safety. And then getting into contact with Alex and that there were now two bodies in the morgue.

"We will need to put his body in the Radyr Woods to be found, it's for the best, rather than have the daughter and sons waste their lifetimes trying to find him, this way at least they can bury him" Ianto said.

"Shouldn't we tell his daughter the sacrifice that he made for her?" Gwen said.

"And then what, let her take the story to the newspapers" Owen said not quite believing the statement made by Gwen.

"But it's not fair, he risked everything, my god, he paid with his life" Gwen screeched.

"Gwen" Jack said slowly, carefully, "I know it's not fair, yes, but this is Torchwood, I'm sorry but you will have to get used to it. I'm sorry but that's the way it goes"

"I just want his daughter to know" Gwen said plaintively, shrugging her shoulders, knowing that Jack and Owen were right, but she just wanted the girl to know what her father did, all the efforts he went to, to correct a mistake, to tell her how lucky she is.

"I know what you mean Gwen" Ianto said quietly, "I'll construct a convincing story to show that Marcus was helping someone but he paid with his life, he will have died a hero, which in a way he was"

Everyone looked at Ianto, admiration and wonder in their eyes. After all he went through over the past couple of days he would consider the feelings of others and remind them what Torchwood was here to help. Jack always thought that Gwen was the human touch of Torchwood but in many ways Ianto was more the human touch of Torchwood. Another reason that Jack loved Ianto. Jack nodded in his direction giving his okay to Ianto to go ahead with his plan.

"Right, if that's all, I'll get back to work" Ianto said getting up.

"Oh no, first we have to discuss what you're doing for the wedding" Gwen said.

"Huh, wedding?" Ianto said a little annoyed, looking towards Jack.

"Jack told us, about you both getting married" Tosh said excitedly and glancing in the direction of Jack, who looked apologetically at Ianto.

"So much for a quiet 'do'…..Jack?" Ianto said raising his eyebrows at Jack, who was staring at the ceiling biting his lower lip.

"I forgot to tell you, I may have mentioned it to them when I got back" Jack said looking at Ianto with sad puppy eyes, "I…I.."

"No, that's okay, it's just that I thought we could have told them together" Ianto said whilst wrapping his arms around Jack's waist and whispering in his ear, "and I thought we were going to tell them…. afterwards"

"Ohhhh this is the best news" Gwen gushed. She and Tosh rushed over to congratulate them, enveloping them in a group hug. Owen walked over and slapped Ianto on the back as a congratulations and then left the board room as the girls twittered about flowers, catering, table settings and matching suits.

Ianto looked at Jack silently telling him off, almost wishing that he could get a hold of a working vortex manipulator to fast forward to the wedding day as he knew it would be impossible to avoid the girls and their planning.

-The End-

_A/N: So tell me what you think, especially if you read the original story, have I done it justice by adding to it or did I bow to pressure and wreck it. _

_Plot bunnies are invading my brain saying write a tangent story of Ianto and the Doctor traveling together for a bit before the Doctor returns Ianto to Jack. What do you think? _


End file.
